She's Just My Roommate
by Follow-The-Firefly
Summary: In which Gilbert might have more feelings for his roommate Elizaveta than he would like to admit. PruHun Rated T for Teen Human names used. COMPLETE
1. Meetings

**Dislcaimer: I own nothing!**

**Zephyr here! I'm officially obsessed with PruHun...I'm making my first multi-chapter PruHun fanfiction. I think I'm officially obsessed with these two. Anyway, I came up with this a few nights ago and I'm pretty sure I haven't found a similiar story on . This probably won't be over fifteen chapters if I add a sub-plot that I'm thinking about adding, but I'm hoping it'll be fun to read. That being said, let the deadly tale begin!**

Gilbert drop-kicked the box, sending it flying across the living room to the front door. Red eyes scanned the room, surveying the product of the last hour of work. The couches were arranged around the room in a strategic manner that would allow him to be in constant view of the TV, the gaming consoles and various games were placed around the TV and the mountain of DVDs had been placed in a DVD shelf nearby. Everything was in its place and Gilbert was happy to say that he was finished.

"I'm finished, _bruder_!" Gilbert called to his brother, who was finishing up in the kitchen.

"You're sure?" Ludwig called from the kitchen. "You haven't left anything at my place, have you?"

"Even if I did, it wouldn't matter." Gilbert shrugged as he sprawled out on one of the couches. "You live in the next building. It's not like I'll never see it again."

"Fair point." Ludwig said. "I wish Feliciano could have been here to see you off."

"_Gott_, you make it seem like I'll never see you again." Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Where is Feli, anyway?"

"He's at work today." Ludwig replied. "He said he might stop by later if he gets off before it's too late."

"He never seems to care about the time whenever he calls me." Gilbert said with a sigh.

"When is your room-mate showing up?" Ludwig asked.

"She'll be here around lunch." Gilbert replied. "I'm a little confused as to how they grouped us to be room-mates, too."

"It was a random draw, Gilbert." Ludwig said. "This'll give you a chance to meet new people."

"You're always saying that, _bruder._" Gilbert said.

"Well, I should get going. I have to meet up with Lovino to give him all this cardboard." Ludwig said as he came into the living room with an armful of cardboard boxes in his arms. "You're sure it's okay if I take this?"

"Knock yourself out." Gilbert said with a nod. "Why does Lovi want it, anyway?"

"He said Antonio wanted it." Ludwig said. "Didn't he say anything about it to you?"

"Nothing, no." Gilbert shook his head. "Ah well. Antonio's one to keep secrets."

"Well, I'm off then." Ludwig said as he made his way toward the door. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"  
"_Ja_." Gilbert nodded. "Thanks for helping out, Ludwig."

"Not a problem" Ludwig said. "I might stop over later if that's okay. I'd like to meet your room-mate sometime."

"Fine by me." Gilbert said.

"Do you know what her name is?" Ludwig asked.

"It starts with an E, I think." Gilbert frowned. "Ellen? Eliza?"

"You'd better learn to remember it, _bruder_." Ludwig said as he started to walk out the door. "I'll see you later, Gilbert."

"Later, Ludwig." Gilbert nodded.

Gilbert forced himself off the couch and made his way into his bedroom in search of his box of portable games. While he'd unpacked the important things like plates and bathroom supplies, Gilbert had yet to unpack his clothes and things for his room. He had several movie and band posters that he wanted to put up in the living room, but he figured that he'd see what his roommate wanted to put up. He didn't want to do anything to make her angry on their first day living together.

His bird didn't seem to be too happy with the arrangement of the bedroom. Gilbird was constantly flitting back and forth between bedposts kept glaring at Gilbert in annoyance.

"I'll be better when I finish unpacking everything in here." Gilbert told the bird, who glared back at his owner.

He had just finished setting up the lava lamps in his room when he heard the front door open and footsteps in the living room. Apparently she was there a little early.

"I'll be out in a second." Gilbert called as he shoved the box back under his bed.

Walking out to the living room, Gilbert found a girl with light brown hair moving boxes into the apartment. Every now and then, her eyes would look over a particular part of the room as she found a place to move the boxes.

"You're Elizaveta?" Gilbert asked, remembering her name when he saw her.

"I guess you'd be Beilschmidt, huh?" she laughed. "Yeah, I'm Elizaveta. Gilbert, right?"

"That's me." Gilbert nodded. "Do you have any more boxes to move in?"

"Just two more, I think." Elizaveta said.

"You pack lightly for a girl." Gilbert said as he walked outside to bring the last two boxes in and set them on the couch.

"Yeah, it's kinda nice." Elizaveta shrugged. "And before you ask, I only have two pairs of shoes."

"Why would I ask?" Gilbert frowned.

"Because most guys think that most girls have a million pairs of shoes." Elizaveta explained. "The fact that I only have two surprises most people."

"What's in the other boxes, then?" Gilbert asked.

"Clothes, books, gaming stuff." Elizaveta said. "I have some plates and other silverware, too. I wasn't sure if you bought some or not."

"I guess we'll be prepared, then." Gilbert said as he sat down on the couch. "My brother gave me some of his silverware and stuff like that when I moved in today."

"You have a brother?" Elizaveta asked as she sat down next to Gilbert.

"Yeah, Ludwig." Gilbert nodded. "He's in the other building, so I know pretty much everyone in this complex."

"I guess that comes in handy." Elizaveta said. "Anyone I should know about?"

"Well, Roderich has his own place upstairs and my brother and his room-mate, Feliciano, are in the other building across the street. Tino and Berwald and their son, Peter, live next to them." Gilbert rambled off. "As for this building, Francis and Arthur live across the hall and Antonio and Feliciano's brother, Lovino live next door. Ivan and Yao are living next to them. And upstairs next to Roderich are Matthew and Alfred, who are brother."

"That's a lot of names to remember." Elizaveta said warily.

"I hang out with Francis and Antonio all the time." Gilbert said. "You'll get used to seeing them. But don't tell Lovino that Antonio likes him."

"Romantically?" Elizaveta arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Gilbert nodded.

"Well, I won't say anything." Elizaveta said. "I'll probably forget all about that."

"It'll get easier." Gilbert said. "I've been hanging out with these guys my whole life, so I'm used to them."

"I'll do that." Elizaveta smiled. "In the mean time, I should probably start unpacking."

"Unpacking is so unawesome." Gilbert sighed. "Want me to help you out? All I have left is the stuff in my room."

"That would cool, yeah." Elizaveta said. "By the way, is there a communal bathroom or do we each get our own?"

"As awesome as it would be to have our own, we have to share." Gilbert said. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"As long as you clean up after yourself, it won't be." Elizaveta said. "Girls are actually much worse to share bathrooms with than guys."

"I find that hard to believe." Gilbert threw her a skeptic glance before he started carrying the boxes of kitchen implements to the kitchen.

"It's horrible." Elizaveta shuddered.

"I guess I'm just used to a clean house and bathroom." Gilbert said. "My brother cleans all the time. It's kinda ridiculous, actually."

"At least the house is clean." Elizaveta pointed out as she unpacked some coffee mugs.

"That's true." Gilbert shrugged.

"Man, I could really go for a beer right now." Elizaveta said. "We should probably go to the grocery store at some point today. We don't exactly want to be without food."

"_Ja_, you're right." Gilbert nodded.

"What was that?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Oh, was that German?" Gilbert asked. "My bad. I'm so used to speaking German with my brother, so it sometimes slips out in normal conversation. It drives Francis crazy."

"Well, I'll do my best not to start speaking Hungarian, either." Elizaveta smiled, standing on tiptoes to reach the top shelf.

"You can speak Hungarian?" Gilbert asked.

"_Igen_." Elizaveta nodded.

"Does that mean yes?" Gilbert asked.

"Yep." Elizaveta nodded.

"It sounds cool." Gilbert told her as he sorted the cutlery into the proper drawer.

"I used to get teased in school because my accent was different." Elizaveta explained.

"That sucks." Gilbert said.

"They stopped when I beat someone unconscious." Elizaveta grinned.

Gilbert's eyes widened as he said, "Seriously?"  
"Yep." Elizaveta nodded.

"Remind me not to piss you off, then." Gilbert laughed.

"If we ever play video games together, watch out." Elizaveta warned him. "I can get quite angry."

"Can't be much worse than me." Gilbert said. "My brother, Ludwig, had to stop me from throwing the XBox out of the window."

"I've actually done it." Elizaveta said as she finished unpacking the mugs. "How much more do we have here?"

"Just these plates." Gilbert said as he put some plates in a cabinet. "And we're done! It's a good thing I brought most of the stuff."

"Thanks for that, by the way." Elizaveta said.

"No problem. I had most of it anyway and Ludwig was trying to get rid of some stuff." Gilbert said. "I don't know about you, but I'm kinda hungry and don't feel like making lunch. Wanna go out somewhere?"

"That sounds good." Elizaveta nodded.

"Let me just grab my wallet from my room and we can go." Gilbert said.

Once he was in his room, Gilbert found his wallet underneath a pile of video game guides that Gilbird was sitting on. When he turned around to walk out of the room, he noticed that Elizaveta was leaning against the wall, her eyes staring up at the ceiling. Gilbert couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about Elizaveta that drew him in. At any rate, she would prove to be an interesting person to live with.

**I know it was a a kind of lame ending. I already have ideas for the next chapter spinning around in my head and I hope I'll be able to get it written down soon. Let's just hope I'll have time to actually do it. Wish me luck! Reviews equal love!**

**Next chapter: Gilbert helps Elizaveta unpack and learns quite a few things about Elizaveta that he never would have guessed.**


	2. Nicknames

**Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, don't you think I'd have made this canon? **

**Zephyr here. I'm surprised how quickly I finished this. Don't be expecting chapters to be this quick in the future. I am a college student, after all. I hope that this is a little better than the last one. The chapters will get longer at some point, but I don't know when exactly that will be yet. So without further ado, let the deadly tale continue!**

Gilbert slammed the key into the lock and forced the door open before he and Elizaveta stepped inside. At the sign of the empty boxes in the living room, both of them sighed, realizing exactly how much work they had to do.

"I guess I shouldn't have lied to Ludwig about finishing unpacking." Gilbert said warily.

"I thought you'd said that you'd finished it?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Well, the major stuff I've finished." Gilbert took off his hoodie and threw it on the couch. "It took us about twenty minutes to set up the stereo and my drum set each."

"Drum set?" Elizaveta raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, over by the wall." Gilbert gestured to the red drums near the entrance to the kitchen. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"So long as you don't play in the middle of the night while I'm trying to sleep, not at all." Elizaveta said with a smile.

"Sounds awesome." Gilbert said as he moved some of Elizaveta's boxes from the floor to the couch.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that." Elizaveta said as she carted some of the boxes off to her room.

"Ask me about what?" Gilbert asked.

"Hey, I've got a pretty big room!" Elizaveta was clearly surprised about this.

"Yeah, I figured that you could have that one." Gilbert said as he walked over to the doorway. "I thought you'd be one of those girls who had a million boxes of shoes or cases of makeup that you needed to store."

"It'll be a good place to store all of the books, though." Elizaveta nodded. "And all of my movies."

"So what were you going to ask me?" Gilbert asked, trying to get back to the original conversation.

"Why do you keep saying that things are awesome?" Elizaveta asked as she and Gilbert walked back to the living room.

"It's just something that I've always done." Gilbert shrugged. "Ludwig says I've been doing it since I was a kid."

"Is he younger or older than you?" Elizaveta asked.

"He's a few years younger than me." Gilbert told her as he picked up a box of books from the floor. "I guess these go in your room?"

"I'm not sure what to do with those yet." Elizaveta said. "I thought we could put up a bookshelf in the living room."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Gilbert nodded. "I mean, I don't read a whole lot, but I have some books that Ludwig's given me over the years." He piled another box on the couch and said, "And the ones I have from school."

"I still have some of mine, too." Elizaveta said. "My mum forced me to keep my copy of _The House of the Seven Gables _and I'm glad that I did."

"I thought that my brother had sold my copy of _Gone With The Wind_, but it turns out that he had just hidden it in his room." Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Typical Ludwig."

"Well, I should probably at least start unpacking my clothes." Elizaveta said.

"Same here." Gilbert said. "Oh by the way, Ludwig and Feliciano might stop by later, but I can tell them not to if you want."

"No, that's okay." Elizaveta said with a smile. "I'd like to meet them."

"And I'm know Ludwig wants to meet you." Gilbert said as he walked back into his room.

After fishing his iPod out of his pocket, Gilbert set the music device on the iHome alarm and opened his computer to iTunes. Deciding that he felt like listening to E. Nomine, Gilbert set the song to _Vater Unser_ and hit play before turning around and facing the many boxes of clothes, CDs and computer and gaming equipment.

"_Scheiße_, this is going to take forever." He swore as he picked up a box of CDs and dumped the contents on the bed. "Maybe I should have started with music last."

Gilbird flitted over to the enormous pile of CDs and rested on top of _ToyZ _by Cinema Bizarre, his dark eyes following his owner around the room. He liked to think that he was helping Gilbert, but he normally created more of a mess for his owner to clean up.

"You know you're just going to knock everything over, Gilbird." Gilbert said. "You can go see Elizaveta if you want."

Gilbird glared at his owner in a way that told Gilbert that he did not want to go see Elizaveta.

"Or you can stay here." Gilbert shrugged as he started unpacking his clothes.

Gilbird chirped happily and flew over to the lamp and sat on the shade, dark eyes surveying the room in front of him.

"You're going to have to get used to the fact that I'm living with a girl now, buddy." Gilbert said. "And Ludwig and Feli are still going to be stopping by for a visit every now and then, so it's not like you'll never see them again."

A series of beeps sounded across the room and Gilbert's phone lit up on the bedside table. He crossed the room to the table and learned that his brother was the one who was calling him.

"What is it, Ludwig?" Gilbert asked.

"_I just wanted to see if she'd shown up yet." _Ludwig asked on the other end. "_It's not very often that you meet a new girl."_

"That makes me sound like a fucking recluse, you know." Gilbert said.

"_You practically are._" Ludwig said. "_So is she there yet?"_

"Yeah, she showed up a little while ago." Gilbert said as he managed to hang up one his shirts with one hand.

"_That's good. Is she pretty?" _Ludwig asked. "_Feliciano told me to ask you if she was hot or not."_

"I-I'm not about to tell you-" Gilbert sputtered as he dropped a pair of jeans on the floor.

"_I'll take that as a yes." _Gilbert could tell that his brother was laughing. "_Just make sure that you don't end up creeping her out, okay Gilbert?"_

"I'm _not _going to creep her out, Ludwig?" Gilbert said. "And besides, it would be awkward if I ended up falling for her. Which I'm not." Gilbert shoved a pair of jeans in a drawer. "That would be totally unawesome."

"_Nothing is unawesome to you and you know it. And you sounded a bit like Feliks just then."_ Ludwig said. _"I'll call you back later, okay?"_

"_Ja_, I'll talk to you later." Gilbert pushed his phone closed on his chest and threw it down on the bed.

"Who was that?"

Gilbert spun around to find Elizaveta leaning against the doorframe, the green eyes meeting the red. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and she looked rather confused.

"T-that was my brother." Gilbert said, his face turning a faint shade of pink. "Just how much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Bits and pieces." Elizaveta smiled. "What did he want?"

"To see if you got here." Gilbert told her.

"Well, I forgot that I'd put some of my cupcakes in the fridge if you want a bit of a break." Elizaveta said.

"You made cupcakes?" Gilbert frowned as he followed Elizaveta to the kitchen.

"I didn't know if you were bringing food or not and I thought that we'd want to take a break from unpacking." Elizaveta reached into the fridge and pulled out a box of chocolate cupcakes with orange icing.

"This looks like something Alfred would make." Gilbert laughed.

"Why's that?" Elizaveta frowned.

"He likes making food in weird colours." Gilbert explained as he and Elizaveta chose their respective cupcakes.

"I hope that they're decent." Elizaveta said. "I'm not very good at cooking."

"I'm sure they'll be good." Gilbert said as he bit into the cupcake.

"Well?" Elizaveta asked, already munching on hers.

"It's a bit salty…" Gilbert said, coughing. "Did you happen to mistake the salt for sugar?"

"Oh, maybe that's what I did." Elizaveta frowned. "And I couldn't find enough flour, either."

"Well, they look like they've risen enough." Gilbert said, crimson eyes examining the cupcake in his hand.

"I guess this is a fair warning of my cooking skills." Elizaveta said.

"Then we're fucked because I can't cook to save my life." Gilbert said as he set the cupcake on the counter. "I can only make some basic _wurst_ and that's about it. I'm so used to Feli doing all of the cooking."

"That's…you're brother's friend, right?" Elizaveta asked.

"Yep." Gilbert said. "They've been living together for a while, though I can't see how Ludwig can put up with Feliciano all day."

"He must be very patient." Elizaveta said as she continued munching on her salty cupcake.

"He had to be with me as an older brother." Gilbert said with a grin. "I can be quite obnoxiously awesome."

"Again with the awesome." Elizaveta rolled her eyes.

"Because I'm awesome." Gilbert nodded.

"I've got a bit of a random question for you." Elizaveta asked.

"Shoot." Gilbert said as he leaned back against the wall.

"Are you seeing anyone right now?" Elizaveta asked unblushingly.

"_N-nein!" _Gilbert sputtered, completely taken aback by Elizaveta's question. "Sorry, I mean no. No, I'm not seeing anyone. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." Elizaveta shrugged.

"Well, then I ask you the same question." Gilbert said.

"Nope, I'm not seeing anyone." Elizaveta shook her head. "I haven't been in a relationship in a while and it's kinda bothering me a bit."

"Well, I'm sure you'll meet someone out there." Gilbert said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Elizaveta shrugged again. After remaining silent for a minute, she said, "I guess we should get back to unpacking, huh?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Gilbert nodded. "Let me know if you need help moving anything, Ellie."

"Ellie?" Elizaveta frowned, following Gilbert out of the kitchen.

"My nickname for you." Gilbert said with a smile before he darted back into his room.

He closed the door and leaned against the wall, eyes on the ceiling. Why the hell did Elizaveta care if he was seeing anyone? Was it possible that she had heard the end of his conversation with Ludwig? If she had, that would be bad for him. Elizaveta didn't seem like the type of girl who would use that information for something bad, but he still had to find out why she needed to know.

**Not a lot happened, but I love it when Hungary walked in after Germany called Prussia. And what's Ellie up to? Stay tuned to find out! So that's that for now. I hope I'll be able to write a new chapter before the week is out. Reviews equal love!**

**Next chapter: Germany and Italy stop by for a visit**


	3. First Dates

**Disclaimer: I now own Hetalia. Because, you know, I could totally make that much money to buy it.**

**Zephyr here. I'm kinda happy with this chapter, but I know that a lot of you guys won't be for a kinda obvious reason at the end. I hope it's a good chapter, though. Let the deadly tale continue!**

Gilbert hated it when his pet woke him up. The little yellow bird had a habit of pecking him on the forehead until he woke up, which was precisely what Gilbird was doing.

"You know I hate that." Gilbert said, crimson eyes on the bird.

Gilbird chirped a response and hopped over to the bedside table, his eyes on the door. Gilbert suspected that he was checking to make sure that Elizaveta wasn't trying to come in the room. They'd been living together for about a week and Gilbird still didn't like Elizaveta. She was very friendly towards the yellow bird, but Gilbird always had a suspicious look in his eyes when she was around.

"Ellie's not going to come in, Gilbird." Gilbert said as he sat up and stretched his arms in front of him. "She knows you don't like her that much. Why that is, I'm sure I'll never know."

Gilbird squawked and flew over to sit on his owner's shoulder. Gilbert patted the bird on the head and got out of bed, walking out of the room and into the living room. He had been expecting to see Elizaveta eating breakfast and watching TV like she normally did, but no one was in the room. She had left the stereo playing a CD from All Time Low, however. In the first day living together, they had decided that they would have the music playing at all times, since neither of them could stand silence.

"I wonder where she went." Gilbert frowned. "Maybe she went out to the store for something?"

He walked into the kitchen and found that she wasn't there, either. On the table, however, Gilbert found a note in her handwriting.

_Doing laundry. Be back soon- Elizaveta_

"That explains a bit." Gilbert said as he grabbed a breakfast pizza from the fridge and tossed it in the microwave.

Gilbird flew off of Gilbert's shoulder and onto the floor before hopping over to his food and water dispensers. While the bird liked eating on the table, Gilbert had decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to ruin Elizaveta's kitchen table with the marks where Gilbird pecked for the food.

"I hope she comes back soon." Gilbert said, his eyes on the pizza in the microwave. "As awesome as it is to be alone, I like to be with people sometimes."

Gilbird seemed to notice what his owner was saying, as he flew up and sat on Gilbert's head.

Gilbert laughed and said, "Don't worry, buddy. I like being with you, too."

Gilbert heard the front door open and shut followed by footsteps in the living room.

"Ellie?" Gilbert called.

"Hang on a minute." Elizaveta said, her voice travelling to her room. She appeared a few seconds later, saying, "Sorry about that. I see you're awake."

"No, I'm actually asleep." Gilbert laughed as he took out the pizza from the microwave. "So did you meet anyone interesting doing laundry?"

"Just a few people in the building." Elizaveta said as she grabbed a bagel from the counter. "Is Matthew always so quiet?"

"Yep." Gilbert nodded. "Especially around Alfred. I have a hard time believing that they're brothers. They're just so different."

"That's what Matthew was saying." Elizaveta said as she bit into the pastry. Her eyes travelled to Gilbird, who was still on Gilbert's head, and said, "How's it going, Gilbird?"

The yellow bird stared at Elizaveta, black eyes narrowed into slits. Gilbert didn't have to see his pet to know that his pet with giving Elizaveta the evil glare.

"Come on, Gilbird." Gilbert picked up the bird and held him in his hands. "What's wrong with Ellie?"

"No one's pets seem to like me." Elizaveta shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"Well, he's going to have to get used to it." Gilbert said, petting the bird on the head.

"By the way, Gil, are you planning on getting dressed today?" Elizaveta asked as she spread some marmalade on her bagel. "I mean, you're not even wearing a shirt."

"I never sleep with a shirt on." Gilbert shrugged. "Just one of the things I do."

"In the middle of January?" Elizaveta raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Gilbert grinned.

"I guess we all have our weird habits." Elizaveta shrugged.

"Yeah, like your need to arrange the plates and bowls by colour." Gilbert said as he bit into a slice of pizza.

"I'm weird, I know." Elizaveta said.

"Oh, did I ask you if you were planning anything tonight?" Gilbert asked.

"No you didn't, but I'm going on a date tonight." Elizaveta said.

Gilbert's eyes grew wide as he said, "R-really? Who with?"

"Just some guy I met while doing laundry." Elizaveta said. "I think he lives in the next building over."

"Oh, okay." Gilbert said. "Well, good for you."

"Maybe you should get a date tonight." Elizaveta suggested. "We could double."

"Ludwig and Feliciano are coming over tonight to check out the place." Gilbert told her. "I should probably be here for that."

"Just a bit, yeah." Elizaveta nodded. "Well, maybe I'll be back to see them a little. We're just planning on doing dinner tonight."

"I mean, it's whatever." Gilbert said. "It's not like you'll never see them, anyway."

"So what do you think?"

Gilbert pulled his eyes away from the TV and found Elizaveta standing in the doorway, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She was wearing a short hunter green strapless dress and black stilettos. She had replaced her boyish jewelry with more feminine ones including the sapphire drop necklace and a silver charm bracelet.

"Wow, that looks really good, Ellie." Gilbert told her. "That's just for a date?"

"Yeah." Elizaveta nodded. "Honestly, this is about the most girly I can get and I can't stand it."

"But you look really great." Gilbert said.

"Thanks, Gil." Elizaveta said. "I should get going, though. I told him that I'd meet him at five and that was five minutes ago."

"Yeah, I'd get on that." Gilbert said as Elizaveta walked towards the door. "Have fun, Ellie."

"Thanks." Elizaveta nodded. "I'll try to be back in time to meet your brother."

"Don't worry about it." Gilbert said as Elizaveta walked out the door.

Gilbird flew over to his master and landed on his knee before pecking Gilbert's hand. Since he was lost in his thoughts, it took a few minutes for Gilbert to notice his pet's presence.

"What's up, Gilbird? Are you happy now that Elizaveta's gone?" Gilbert asked his pet.

Gilbird chirped a few times, which Gilbert could only assume was a yes.

"I don't know what your problem with her is." Gilbert said. "She's a nice girl."

"Who is now?"

Gilbert looked up and found Feliciano and Ludwig standing in front of the door. Apparently they had entered without Gilbert noticing.

"How long have you guys been there?" Gilbert asked.

"Long enough." Feliciano said with a sly smile.

"Where's your roommate?" Ludwig asked.

"She just left for a date." Gilbert explained.

"It's only been a week and she already has a date?" Ludwig arched an eyebrow. "With whom?"

"She doesn't know his name." Gilbert shrugged.

"That's a great way to start off a possible relationship." Ludwig sighed.

"It looks really cool in here!" Feliciano was staring at the wall scrolls and movie posters that lined the walls.

"Yeah, Ellie brought a few of them and some of them are mine from my old room." Gilbert said. "I'm glad that she had thought to bring her Hungarian band posters. They go so well with the German ones."

"Sounds like you've got a good roommate, Gilbert." Ludwig said. "I just wish we could've come over sooner."

"That's okay. I know you're busy." Gilbert said. "And yeah, I'm surprised how awesome she is, too."

Feliciano exchanged glances with Ludwig and said, "What exactly does that mean, Gilbert?"

"She's awesome?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"You only call the things you like awesome." Ludwig told his brother. "You've never called a girl awesome before."

"Sure I have!" Gilbert exclaimed.

"Name one." Ludwig challenged.

"I can't think of one off the top of my head, but I know I've said that about girls before." Gilbert said. "Besides, Ellie and I are just friends."

"I think there's something going on a bit deeper than that, _bruder_." Ludwig said.

"Oh yeah?" Gilbert asked. "Prove it."

"You just called her Ellie." Feliciano said.

"So?" Gilbert questioned. "Lots of guys have nicknames for their female friends."

"That's very true, Feliciano." Ludwig said. "My intuition is telling me that there's more to your relationship with Elizaveta than you know."

"Sometimes your intuition can be screwy, you know." Gilbert told his brother.

"How so?" Ludwig asked.

"Like the time where you were convinced that Berwald was cheating on Tino with Ivan?" Feliciano said.

"I was so sure of that." Ludwig muttered under his breath. "But there's something going on with you and Elizaveta, Gilbert. You just might not be able to see it yet."

* * *

Elizaveta heard the shouts of anger from the apartment before she got to the second floor hallway. At first she didn't want to believe that the noise was coming from her apartment, but she was force to believe so when she reached the door and heard Gilbert shouting from behind it.

"You might want to tone it down a bit, Gil." Elizaveta said as she opened the door and walked into the living room.

"You're back already?" Gilbert asked, setting the PSP next to him on the couch.

"I can always leave again." Elizaveta said with a smirk.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Gilbert said as Elizaveta sat down in the recliner. "So how was the date?"

"It was okay, I guess." Elizaveta shrugged.

"Well, did you have fun?" Gilbert asked as he turned to face her.

"I did, yeah, but he's just really shy." Elizaveta said as she started to take off her shoes. "I mean, I made most of the conversation while Roderich just-"

"Hang on a minute." Gilbert had to do a double take. "Roderich? As in the Roderich who lives upstairs?"

"Yeah, apparently." Elizaveta shrugged. "I thought he lived in the same building as your brother, but he lives upstairs."

"Oh, I see." Gilbert said slowly.

"Is everything okay?" Elizaveta frowned.

"I don't get along with him very well." Gilbert shook his head. "He was always a prick in school and we got in fights all the time."

"Let me guess who would start those fights." Elizaveta smiled.

"Hey, he deserved them most of the time." Gilbert said. "So are you going to see him again?"

"I think so, yeah." Elizaveta said. "I can always turn him down, though, if it makes you feel better."

"Don't be ridiculous." Gilbert shook his head. "If you like him, go out with him. Don't let me get in the way with this."

"Okay, if you're sure." Elizaveta said, though Gilbert could tell that she was a little uneasy about the matter. "So how did things go with your brother?"

"Hmm?" Gilbert had apparently gotten lost in his thoughts.

"Weren't Ludwig and Feliciano coming for a visit?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Yeah." Gilbert nodded.

"So how did it go?" Elizaveta asked.

"Pretty well." Gilbert said. "We just went out for pizza and played _Halo_ all night."

"Sounds like you guys had a fun time." Elizaveta said with a smile.

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun." Gilbert nodded. "Ludwig said that he might be stopping by tomorrow afternoon when he gets off work."

"I get off around two tomorrow, so I should be home, assuming that he works later than me." Elizaveta nodded. "I can't wait to meet him. If he's anything like you, I'm sure he'll be interesting."

"He's nothing like me at all." Gilbert shook his head. "He's far more serious than I could ever be."

"Sometimes being too serious can be a bad thing, though." Elizaveta shrugged. "Well, I'm gonna go hit the shower. I need to get all this make-up off somehow."

"Good luck with that." Gilbert said as Elizaveta walked off to the bathroom.

He leaned back against the couch, the video game lying next to him all but forgotten. It just had to be Roderich, didn't it?

**I torture my characters so much...So I'm kinda concerned with how Prussia and Hungary are acting. Are they too OOC and Mary Sue/ Gary Stu-ish? And I have a feeling that the story is moving way too fast, but I think I have a way to slow it down. That's it for now. Reviews equal love!**

**Next chapter: Gilbert has a talk with Ludwig.  
**


	4. Singing

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. I'm not that awesome.**

**Zephyr here! This one took a little longer, but I'm finally happy with a chapter. I have so much fun writing as Gilbird. I had no clue that he would develop such a personality. This is kinda an important chapter, so let's get this started. Let the deadly tale continue!**

Gilbert opened the door to the apartment and walked into the living room, unzipping his hoodie and throwing it on the couch. It had been a very long day at work and he had been pestered nearly all day by customers who couldn't tell the difference between a tuba and a piccolo. Now that he was actually home, all Gilbert wanted to do was open a can of beer and play video games for the rest of the day.

As he walked into the kitchen, he was quite surprised to find Francis sitting at the island. Gilbert was quite used to Francis and Antonio showing up uninvited at random parts of the day, but they had never shown up while he was at work.

"How did you get in this time, Francis?" Gilbert asked as he pulled a beer out of the fridge.

"What do you mean?" Francis asked innocently.

"Both Elizaveta and I were working today, which means that the apartment was locked." Gilbert sat down across from Francis. "Which also means that I could have you arrested for breaking and entering."

"Is it really breaking and entering if I used your house key?" Francis held up a key in front of Gilbert.

"How the fuck did you get my house key?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "I just used it to get inside! And furthermore, the door was locked when I got home!"

"I've done this before, Gilbert." Francis said. "I had a duplicate copy made days ago and just came in. And, of course, I locked it from the inside so you wouldn't be suspicious."

"I won't ask how many girl's houses you've broken into." Gilbert pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Many a girl, my friend." Francis told him. "Not a word about this to Arthur, though."

"Yeah, if he ever finds out that his boyfriend is a creepy ass stalker, who knows what he'd do." Gilbert rolled his eyes. "So what do you want, Francis?"

"I've seen you around with a girl lately." Francis said mysteriously. "And she often comes into your apartment with you, but leaves by herself."

"That's Elizaveta." Gilbert told him. "She's just my roommate."

"Is that all she is?" Francis wondered.

"What else would she be?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying something, Francis?"

"You spend an awful lot of time with her." Francis said.

"Because she's my roommate." Gilbert said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We kinda live together."

"You can use that excuse all you want, but I can see how it is." Francis said. "I've seen the way that you look at her, Gilbert."

"What are you implying, Francis?" Gilbert frowned as he took a drink of beer. "That I like Ellie?"

"Well, that's what the evidence is suggesting." Francis answered. "And Ludwig said something about-"

"Ludwig doesn't know what he's talking about." Gilbert interrupted.

"You can deny it all you want, but the fact of the matter is that you like Elizaveta." Francis said as he stood up. "You just need to decide what you're going to do about it."

* * *

Gilbird's squawking directed Gilbert's attention to the living room from where he sat at the kitchen table. Elizaveta had just walked through the door and into the living room, which is why the bird was putting up such a fuss.

"Glad to see that you're getting used to me, Gilbird." The sarcasm was obvious in Elizaveta's voice. "Where's Gilbert, buddy?"

"I'm in the kitchen, Ellie." Gilbert called, setting the PSP on the table.

"Have you been cooking in here?" Elizaveta asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"That's generally what people do in kitchens, yes." Gilbert said. "I just grilled some sausages."

"You didn't wait for me to eat, did you?" Elizaveta asked as she piled some sausages onto a plate.

"You told me that you didn't know when you'd be back, so I had one or two of them with some leftover potatoes." Gilbert said. "Wait, you're actually eating one?"

"Am I not allowed to?" Elizaveta asked as she stuck the sausages into the microwave.

"I never said you couldn't." Gilbert said. "You've just never had my cooking before."

"I'm sure it's fine." Elizaveta said as she leaned against the counter.

"Feli and Ludwig always say that I put too many spices in sausage." Gilbert smirked as his pet flew over and rested on his head.

"I see Gilbird wants some attention." Elizaveta laughed.

"He's been really moody lately." Gilbert said as he tried to glance up at the yellow bird.

Hopping around, Gilbird started pecking his owner's head, as if he was protesting what Gilbert was saying about him.

"Gah!" Gilbert yelped. "Gilbird! What the fuck are you doing?"

"That's not nice, Gilbird." Elizaveta crossed the kitchen and pulled Gilbird off of Gilbert's head, holding the yellow bird in her hand.

It was obvious that Gilbird didn't want to be held by Elizaveta. His beady black eyes were on her and Gilbert was sure if it was physically possible, his pet would be shooting laser beams out of his eyes straight at her.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Elizaveta asked as Gilbird flew out of her hand and landed on Gilbert's shoulder.

"I don't know what I'm meant to do with him. He's never been like this with anyone." Gilbert sighed as he stared at his pet. "But I can't just get rid of him."

"Why would you get rid of him?" Elizaveta frowned as she pulled the sausages from the microwave and grabbed some silverware and joined Gilbert at the table.

"Because the two of you don't get along." Gilbert said.

"I like him perfectly fine. I think he's adorable, actually." Elizaveta told him. "But it seems like the feeling isn't mutual."

"You want Gilbird to think that you're adorable?" Gilbert laughed.

"Well, I'd like him to stop glaring at me whenever I come into a room, but I'll take whatever I can get." Elizaveta smiled.

"Maybe I should just send him back over with Ludwig and Feli." Gilbert said, his eyes on the yellow bird.

It appeared that Gilbird didn't approve of this. He shot daggers at his owner with his eyes, and Gilbert knew all too well what that look meant.

"Do you want to get better acquainted with your cage, Gilbird?" Gilbert asked his pet. "Shape up, buddy."

"We'll figure something out." Elizaveta said.

"So how's the sausage?" Gilbert asked.

"It's not that bad, actually." Elizaveta answered.

"I'll just have to remember not to put too much garlic in the potatoes for you." Gilbert said. "I'm used to putting a lot in."

"And that was definitely a lot." Elizaveta said through a mouthful of sausage.

"At least it wasn't like the first time I made sausage." Gilbert said. "I undercooked it and Feli got food poisoning."

"Oh yikes." Elizaveta stared at the sausage in front of her.

"Don't worry." Gilbert laughed. "No one's gotten sick from my cooking since then and that was three years ago."

"That makes me feel a little better, then." Elizaveta nodded.

* * *

Gilbert woke up to find Gilbird staring at him, which he normally did while his master was asleep. The yellow bird had started doing this after a younger Gilbert had played a trick on him and poked him in his sleep. Ever since that day, Gilbird stared at his owner until he knew that he was really asleep.

"What are you doing, little guy?" Gilbert petted the bird on the head.

Gilbird hopped around the bed before jumping on Gilbert's leg and hopping up to his owner's shoulder.

"You're in a playful mood today, Gilbird." Gilbert smiled. "Are you feeling better today? Not so angry with Ellie?"

At the mention of Elizaveta, Gilbird's eyes narrowed in frustration. Gilbert could tell that it wasn't a good idea to mention his roommate in front of his pet.

"You're going to have to get used to her, you know." Gilbert said as he got out of bed and walked out of the room. "She's going to be living with us now."

Gilbert walked out into the living room and saw that the TV was showing a rerun of a popular comedy show that Elizaveta watched, though it contrasted strangely with the Rammstein CD that was playing on the stereo.

"Ellie?" Gilbert called out hesitantly, wondering where his roommate could be.

Somehow, over the sounds of the German industrial music and the TV, Gilbert managed to hear the sound of someone singing coming from the direction of the bathroom. Frowning, Gilbert walked over to the bathroom door and pressed his ear against the door to get a better grasp of what was going on. The voice belonged to Elizaveta, who was singing a song in Hungarian that Gilbert didn't recognize.

"Is that you, Ellie?" Gilbert called.

Gilbert heard Elizaveta squeak in surprise before saying, "Gil? I thought you were still asleep?"  
"No, I just woke up and I heard voices coming from the bathroom." Gilbert explained. "I'll leave you alone, then."

And with that, Gilbert retreated to the kitchen for breakfast. He was halfway through his bowl of cereal when Elizaveta walked into the room, clad in cargo pants and a Hungarian band shirt.

"Sorry about that, Ellie." Gilbert said, his cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.

"That's okay." Elizaveta said, her face just as flushed. "I'm so used to having the apartment to myself when I shower because you're normally at work."

"I got the afternoon shift today." Gilbert explained. "Why'd you put German music on today?"

"How'd you know that it was me?" Elizaveta asked.

"Because I put in Muse before I went to bed last night." Gilbert told her. "I woke up and it was Rammstein."

"I just felt like hearing some German music for a change." Elizaveta shrugged.

"Okay, if you say so." Gilbert said.

"Hey, we weren't going to be doing anything tonight, were we?" Elizaveta asked.  
"I have a date tonight." Gilbert said nonchalantly.

"Wait, a what?" Elizaveta was clearly surprised by this. "Since when do you have a date?"

"Since yesterday?" Gilbert formed his response like a question. "Didn't I tell you?"

"No, you didn't." Elizaveta shook her head. "So who is she? It is a she, right? Not that I care or anything." She added quickly. "You just don't seem like the kind of guy who would date other guys."

"It's a girl, don't worry." Gilbert laughed. "Her name's Maria. She and I work at the same music shop."

"Oh, okay." Elizaveta said. "Well, good for you."  
"Why do you ask?" Gilbert asked as he finished his cereal and placed the bowl in the sink.

"Well, I kinda have a date with Roderich tonight." Elizaveta admitted. "I didn't know if your brother was coming over again."

"No, he and Feliciano both work the late shift tonight." Gilbert shook his head.

"I see." Elizaveta said, though she was, for some reason, trying not to look at Gilbert.

"_Wo drückt es dich denn?" _Gilbert asked.

"Say what?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Was that German?" Gilbert asked. "Shit. I was doing so well, too."

"What does it mean?" Elizaveta asked.

"I was asking you what's on your mind." Gilbert asked. "You seem kinda distracted."

"I'm fine." Elizaveta said. "Well, I should get ready for work."

"That would be a good idea." Gilbert said.

"Oh, Gil?" Elizaveta asked.

"Hmm?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"You don't need to be so self-conscious about your German." Elizaveta smiled. "I think it sound pretty cool."

Elizaveta turned around and headed back to her room, leaving a very confused Gilbert to himself in the kitchen. Why had she looked so surprised when he told her that he was going out on a date? Was it really that strange for him? And what was going on with the German thing? No one had ever told him that his German sounded cool. Something was going on with Elizaveta and Gilbert needed to find out what that was.

**I have a feeling that I'm going to get quite a few comments about this chapter. I'll try to have the next one up soon, but I'm preparing to go back to college next week. Wish me luck! Reviews equal love!**

**Next chapter: Elizaveta has a bad feeling after her date with Roderich**


	5. Lies

**Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, PruHun would be canon. Trust me. **

**Zephyr here! Holy crap, I had so much fun writing this chapter. I got a lot of reviews about how they liked the fact that Gilbird has a personality. Honestly, I just wrote him as a bird and he grew in personality as I wrote him. I kinda love writing as him, probably more than I should. I hope this chapter makes up for the last one and it should make many people happy. I myself was fangirling when I was writing this. That being said, let the deadly tale begin!**

Elizaveta threw herself down on the couch and turned on the TV as she tried to distract herself from thinking about Gilbert's date with Maria. She couldn't figure out why she cared so much. There wasn't any logical reason for her to care about whom Gilbert dated or the fact that he dated at all.

A loud chirp directed Elizaveta's attention to the yellow bird sitting behind her on the couch. Gilbird's black eyes were on her and she could tell that he wasn't happy.

"Look, I don't know when he's getting back, Gilbird." Elizaveta said. "I bet he told you that he's out on a date tonight."

This did nothing to ease the little bird's mind. Gilbird flew down to Elizaveta and landed next to her knee, never taking his eyes off of her.

"Why should I care if he's on a date anyway? Should I even care?" Elizaveta mused. "I mean, it's his life. I can't really do anything about it." She looked at the bird and said, "What do you think, Gilbird?"

Gilbird chirped and flew over to the stereo system and rested on the speakers, apparently ignoring Elizaveta entirely.

"Gee, thanks for the advice." Elizaveta's words dripped sarcasm. "Really, though, what am I going to do? Why the hell do I care about this so much? It's not like I like Gilbert like that, anyway."

She turned off the TV and walked out to the back deck. It wasn't as big as the ones in the other apartments, but it was big enough for Elizaveta to put her tulips in the sun. Gilbert had insisted that she grew cornflowers as well, so now Elizaveta had the deck covered with flowers. Gilbert normally had to remind her to water them, but considering that and the fact that Gilbird liked to fly around and peck on the leaves, the plants looked rather nice.

Elizaveta walked back to the chair next to the railing and picked up her book. It was a little too late to start a new chapter, but she didn't have much else to do before Gilbert came home. He always asked her how her dates with Roderich went, so she wanted to be there to ask him how his date with Maria was.

"Now that I think about it, he seemed kind of upset when I told him that I was going out with Roderich again." Elizaveta mused. "I wonder what that was about. I mean, he said something about not getting along with Roderich, but I didn't think Gil would be upset over that."

Shrugging it off, Elizaveta went back inside, book in hand, and was quite surprised to find that Gilbert was sprawled out on the couch. He had already kicked off his shoes and was in the process of taking off his tie.

"So how'd it go?" Elizaveta asked.

Gilbert stared at her for a second before he said, "It was fine."

"Fine?" Elizaveta frowned. "That's all it was?"

"Yeah." Gilbert nodded. "How'd it go with Roderich?"

Elizaveta could tell that something was bothering Gilbert, but she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't tell her about it. "I think it went pretty well."

"Oh yeah?" Gilbert said. "That's good."

"I think so." Elizaveta nodded.

"Well, I'm pretty tired, so I'm just going to go to bed now." Gilbert said.

"Yeah, it's a little after midnight, after all." Elizaveta said. "_Jó éjszakát_, Gilbert."

"What was that?" Gilbert frowned as he got up off the couch.

"It means 'good night' in Hungarian." Elizaveta explained.

"Well, _guten nacht_ to you, too." Gilbert replied in German.

"See you tomorrow." Elizaveta smiled as she and Gilbert went into their respective rooms, with Gilbird following behind after his owner.

Gilbert crawled into bed, his hands behind his head and his eyes staring up at the ceiling. Gilbird was flying around like he normally did before he fell asleep, but Gilbert wasn't paying attention to his pet's antics tonight.

"Why did it feel wrong?" Gilbert asked himself. "Why did it feel wrong when I was kissing Maria?"

He rolled over onto his side so that he was facing the wall. He knew why he didn't like Elizaveta dating Roderich, but he didn't understand why he cared so much. She was his friend, sure, but Gilbert had a feeling that there was something more to it than that. Now that his date with Maria had failed, Gilbert didn't know what to think.

It wasn't like Gilbert enjoyed lying to Elizaveta. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth about his night with Maria. He had the feeling that she would be upset by it somehow.

"What am I supposed to do, Gilbird?" Gilbert sighed.

He felt the little yellow bird fly down to his knee and hop his way up to his stomach where he softly chirped a few times, as if he was attempting to reassure his owner.

"I guess I'll figure this out somehow." Gilbert said as he patted the bird on the head. "I'll get this sorted out."

* * *

Gilbert looked up from his grilled cheese sandwich and found that Gilbird was hopping back and forth between the salt and peppershakers. The yellow bird had taken to flying all over the kitchen in the last few months and it was rather annoying for Gilbert and Elizaveta.

"Buddy, what have I told you about doing that?" Gilbert scolded his pet. "Elizaveta's not going to be happy about you jumping around on those."

Gilbird squawked in protest, but he jumped down from the saltshaker and hopped over to where Gilbert was sitting at the table.

"I don't know what I'm meant to do with you." Gilbert sighed. "Ellie and I have been living together for almost half a year and you still don't like her?"

Gilbert could have sworn that he saw his pet shake his head.

"Geez, it's like Ellie and I are already married and having problems with the pets getting along with the spouse." Gilbert shook his head before he took a bite of grilled cheese.

Gilbird didn't look happy about this at all. He squawked a few times and flew up to Gilbert's head.

"Elizaveta and I aren't really married, Gilbird." Gilbert said. "That's just ridicul-hang on a minute!"

Gilbert grabbed the bird on his head and placed him in the palm of his hand.

"Is that what this is about?" Gilbert asked. "Do you think that Ellie and I are getting married?"

Though he didn't say anything, Gilbert could tell that his pet agreed with his statement.

"Are you jealous of Ellie?" Gilbert asked, crimson eyes on the yellow bird.

Gilbird chirped once, which Gilbert interpreted to mean yes.

"She's not going to replace you, Gilbird. You're way too awesome for that." Gilbert assured him. "I know I'm living with Elizaveta right now, but she's my roommate and you're going to have to get used to it."

Gilbird didn't look happy about this and he chirped once to show that he understood.

"I won't let her replace you, I promise." Gilbert patted the bird on the head. "I may like Ellie, but-"

Gilbert stopped midsentence as he came to an understanding. Did he really like Elizaveta? That would explain everything. It explained why his date with Maria failed all those months ago, even after he tried so hard to make the dates after that work out. It explained why he hated the fact that she was dating someone else and it was even worse that she was dating his worst enemy.

"That makes sense, right?" Gilbert asked his pet. "Everything would make sense if I like Ellie."

Gilbird cocked his head to the side. His owner was clearly not making any sense to him.

"Maybe Ludwig knows something about this." Gilbert pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched in his brother's number before waiting for him to pick up.

"Ja_, Gilbert?" _Ludwig responded on the other line. "_What's going on?"_

"Ludwig, I think I like Ellie." Gilbert said seriously.

"_You're kind of living with her." _Ludwig said. "_I'd hope that you like her."_

"Not in that way, _bruder_." Gilbert sighed at his brother's antics.

"_Well, I've known you've liked her since she moved in." _Ludwig said. "_It was kind of obvious."_

"Stop patronizing me and tell me what I'm supposed to do." Gilbert said.

"_She's still going out with Roderich, right?"_ Ludwig asked.

"Yeah." Gilbert replied as he used his free hand to take Gilbird off the stovetop.

"_There's not much that we can do about it." _Ludwig said. "_Maybe you should tell her, though. Just so that it's out in the open."_

"That'll be too awkward." Gilbert shook his head.

"_It needs to be done, Gilbert." _Ludwig said. "_Now I need to go. Feliciano somehow managed to get tomato sauce on the ceiling and I need to clean it."_

"Thanks, Ludwig." Gilbert sighed as he ended the call.

Gilbert placed the phone on the table and stared at his pet, who was now hopping contentedly around the napkin holder.

"I've got to tell her, Gilbird." Gilbert said slowly. "Somehow."

* * *

"Gil, I think there's something wrong with Gilbird."

Gilbert looked away from the TV and focused on Elizaveta, who was currently trying to read. It had been a while since they had spent some quality time together since Elizaveta had to take so many night shifts at the bookstore. Since she had that night off, Gilbert suggested that they just stayed together in the apartment.

"What's he doing?" Gilbert frowned.

"Look where he is, Gil." Elizaveta said. "He's sitting on me."

And sure enough, Gilbert found that the yellow bird was sitting on Elizaveta's leg. He didn't have any sort of sinister or mischievous look in his eyes, so this was extremely rare for Gilbird.

"What's going on, Gilbird?" Gilbert asked his pet. "Have you finally realized that Ellie's not going to replace you?"

"Replace him?" Elizaveta frowned.

"I figured out today that he was jealous of you." Gilbert said as he patted the bird on the head.

"I wonder why." Elizaveta mused.

"From what I could gather, he thought that you were going to replace him." Gilbert said.

"What, did he tell you that?" Elizaveta laughed.

"Hey, Gilbird has his way of communicating without speaking." Gilbert said. "I told him that there was no way that I was going to let you replace him and he's just going to have to get used to you living with me."

"It kinda makes it seem like Gilbird is your kid." Elizaveta smiled. "Especially in the way that you scold him all the time."

"If he wasn't such a silly bird, he wouldn't need to be scolded at all." Gilbert said.

Gilbird squawked at his owner, as if he was protesting Gilbert's statement, and flew up to sit on Elizaveta's shoulder.

"Okay, he's officially trying to get to know you a little better." Gilbert seemed very relieved.

"Why's that?" Elizaveta asked.

"He only ever sits on my shoulder." Gilbert clarified. "He won't even sit on Ludwig's shoulder."

"Well, that's very nice of you, Gilbird." Elizaveta told the bird. "I wonder if I can try petting him."

"Go for it." Gilbert shrugged. "He's got to learn sometime."

Elizaveta started to pet Gilbird on the head, though he didn't seem to like it at first. After a few seconds, he seemed to realize that Elizaveta wasn't going to hurt him and he relaxed a little bit.

"There you go, Gilbird." Elizaveta said with a smile.

"Geez, it's only taken what? Half a year?" Gilbert sighed. "Half a year to get to this point?"

"I think the important thing is that we got to this point." Elizaveta told him.

"Yeah, that's true." Gilbert nodded.

"By the way, Gil, I've been meaning to ask you something." Elizaveta asked, still petting the yellow bird.

"What's that?" Gilbert frowned.

"Is everything okay?" Elizaveta asked.

"Of course it is." Gilbert nodded. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well, you seemed kind of strange when I came back from work this afternoon." Elizaveta said. "It was almost like you couldn't look at me."

"_Ja_, there's nothing going on." Gilbert told her, even though he knew it wasn't true. "Everything's fine."

**I wanted to smack Prussia at the end. I can just imagine Gilbird jumping around on kitchen implements. Lots of things went on in this chapter, huh? I hope I can write the next one soon, but I'm packing to go back to college tomorrow, so there won't be a whole lot of time for writing. I have a clear idea of what I want to have happen next, so that's working in my favour. Reviews are always appreciated. **

**Next chapter: Elizaveta tells Gilbert something that he really doesn't want to hear.**


	6. Music

**Disclaimer: I now own Hetalia. That's why PruHun isn't canon yet.**

**Zephyr here! I've somehow managed to survive the first two days of classes to write this down. I've actually written quite a bit more, but I think I'll save it for chapter seven for the sake of time. I know the last chapter was filled with lots of important things, but I'm afraid there's nothing like that this chapter. Maybe a bit of emo-Prussia, but that's it. So let the deadly tale continue!**

"Gilbert, will you stop spacing off and pay attention!"

Gilbert blinked and turned his head so that he was facing Elizaveta, who stood angrily behind the shopping cart. Elizaveta had discovered that they were nearly out of food that morning, since both she and Gilbert had been working extra hours at work and were, as such, unable to buy food. Instead of spending the morning playing video games, as was originally planned, Gilbert and Elizaveta were out grocery shopping.

"I wasn't spacing out." Gilbert knew that she could see right through him.

"Oh really?" Elizaveta raised an eyebrow. "So what did I just say?"

"Something about food?" Gilbert took a wild guess.

"Lucky shot, Gil." Elizaveta rolled her eyes. "I asked you to pick out some bananas."

"But I don't like bananas." Gilbert frowned.

"No, but I do." Elizaveta said.

"Okay, fine." Gilbert said as he slouched off.

Elizaveta sighed as she watched Gilbert walk over to the produce section. He wasn't happy about having to go to the grocery store so early in the morning, but she suspected that he was more embarrassed than anything. She had to go into his room and wake him up, which apparently had not been a good idea. Elizaveta was under the impression that she had woken him up from a dream that he didn't want to be awoken from and quickly hurried out of his room once she found that he was awake.

Still, Elizaveta couldn't help but notice that her roommate had been acting strangely the last few weeks. There were times where she would find him staring at her, like he was trying to look through her, but there were other times where he couldn't look at her at all. She knew that he had been lying when he told her that nothing was wrong, but she didn't say anything about it. If he didn't want to tell her, then it was none of her business to know what was going on.

"Now you're the one not paying attention, Ellie."

Elizaveta blinked and found Gilbert standing in front of the cart as he smiled at her.

"Yeah, I guess so." Elizaveta tried to smile back.

"What's wrong?" Apparently Gilbert could tell that something was bothering her.

"I'm okay." It technically wasn't lying, but Elizaveta just wasn't telling him the whole truth. "That's it, isn't it?"

"We got the coffee and beer, right?" Gilbert asked.

"That was the first thing we got." Elizaveta said as they headed towards the checkout area.

"Then we're ready." Gilbert nodded. "Man, Gilbird's going to be angry when we come back."

"Why's that?" Elizaveta said as they reached the line.

"Because he was asleep when we left and doesn't know where I am." Gilbert explained. "He's kinda finicky when I'm not there."

"I've noticed." Elizaveta said.

"At least he's getting better with you." Gilbert said.

"Yeah, that's true." Elizaveta nodded.

It took a few minutes to pay for the food and to load it into Gilbert's car, which Elizaveta still found strange when compared to his personality.

"I don't see what's wrong with Dietrich." Gilbert said when he and Elizaveta were in the car.

"You named your car?" Elizaveta raised an eyebrow.

"Technically Feliciano did when I bought him." Gilbert shrugged. "So what's wrong with my car?"

"I thought you'd just have a more modern car." Elizaveta replied. "What kind of car is this, anyway?"

"It's a Mercedes C107." Gilbert answered as he turned the key and started the ignition. "What kind of car do you think I should have?"

"I thought you'd have a more modern kind of sports car." Elizaveta said as Gilbert pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"This was a pretty good racing car back in the day." Gilbert smiled. "I just happen to like older cars. I guess it kinda runs in the family."

"How so?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Ludwig has one of the first models of the Beetle." Gilbert explained.

"You know, I can see that." Elizaveta said.

"So I think I'm ready for some music now." Gilbert nodded as he turned on the radio. "Do you want to listen to German or Hungarian today?"

"How about we just listen to what's on the radio?" Elizaveta suggested.

"That sounds good." Gilbert agreed. "Let's hope that it isn't some music that Alfred likes."  
"What brought that on?" Elizaveta frowned as Gilbert pulled the car onto the street.

"I went over to visit him yesterday while you were at work and he was listening to some horrible pop music." Gilbert shuddered.

"I thought Alfred didn't like pop music?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Matthew says that he's going through a phase right now." Gilbert explained. "Last week he was listening to Ukrainian folk music."

"Poor Matthew." Elizaveta's eyes widened in horror.

"I told him that he could come visit if he needed to." Gilbert said, glancing at Elizaveta. "I figured that you'd be okay with that."

"If Alfred's listening to Ukrainian folk music, he can come over as much as he wants." Elizaveta said.

"I told him that we have some Avril Lavigne for him to listen to if he needs some Canadian music." Gilbert continued.

"You listen to Avril Lavigne?" Elizaveta looked at Gilbert in surprise.

"W-what?" Gilbert seemed to realize that he said something that he shouldn't have. "How do you know that it's me?"

"Well, I think I know my own musical preferences, Gil." Elizaveta laughed.

"Funny, Ellie." Gilbert rolled his eyes as he pulled the car into the apartment parking lot.

"Aww, you know I'm teasing, right?" Elizaveta smiled as she and Gilbert got out of the car and started to unload the groceries.

"Yeah, I know." Gilbert said with a nod. "Hey, maybe we could go visit Ivan and Yao before we go back to the apartment?"

"You never want to visit Yao and Ivan." Elizaveta eyed her roommate suspiciously. "You're stalling for something."

"No?" Gilbert knew that she wouldn't believe this.

"What are you avoiding?" Elizaveta asked, her eyes on Gilbert.

"My pet." Gilbert nodded. "The last time I left without me telling him where I was going, he pecked my arm so hard that I needed stitches."

"So that's where that scar came from." Elizaveta said as she followed Gilbert up the stairs.

"My tattoo covers up the other one that he gave me." Gilbert nodded.

"You have a tattoo?" Elizaveta frowned. "I've never seen it before."

"It's on my back." Gilbert nodded as he slammed the key into the lock and opened the door.

"What's it of?" Elizaveta asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." Gilbert smiled at her as he opened the door and walked inside.

"What are we, seven?" Elizaveta said with a smile.

"Exactly." Gilbert laughed. "We've regressed in age."

"Gilbird, what are you doing?" Elizaveta asked, apparently spotting the bird.

Gilbert turned to find Elizaveta staring at Gilbird, who was sitting on the table. The yellow bird was fast asleep and apparently hadn't heard the human occupants of the apartment come home.

"He must have come out here to wait for me." Gilbert assumed. "He was asleep in my room when we left."

"Should you wake him up?" Elizaveta asked as she started to unpack the groceries.

"Probably." Gilbert picked up his pet and held him in the palm of his hand. "Gilbird? Wake up, buddy."

Gilbird slowly opened his eyes and stared at Gilbert. He couldn't tell if his pet was angry with him, but perhaps he could figure it out once the yellow bird was more awake.

"How are you doing, Gilbird?" Elizaveta asked, as she walked over to where Gilbert was standing.

Gilbird looked from his owner to Elizaveta suspiciously, as if he thought the two were off spending time together without him. Once he saw the grocery bags on the island, however, Gilbird seemed to realize that they were just out running errands and relaxed a little.

"I wasn't out doing anything weird with Ellie, Gilbird." Gilbert told his pet as the yellow bird flew off of his hand and landed on the table.

"He doesn't seem too angry." Elizaveta said.

"This is calm for him." Gilbert explained. "It's kinda throwing me off a bit."

"This reminds me of Heracles and his cat." Elizaveta laughed.

"That cat is insane." Gilbert said as he started to help with the groceries. "He tried to attack Pierre."

"But Pierre totally dive-bombed him!" Elizaveta laughed.

"Have you been hanging out with Feliks again?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"No." Elizaveta shook her head as she put some cereal in the cupboard. "Why?"

"You sounded just like him." Gilbert told her as he checked his phone. "_Scheiße, _I have to get ready for work."

"I thought you had off today?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Just the morning, which was taken up by shopping." Gilbert shook his head. "Not that it could have been avoided, anyway."

* * *

Elizaveta was happily reading on the porch when she heard a series of banging noises followed by loud clashes of brass implements. After thinking for a moment, she realized that the noise was coming from the living room where Gilbert was playing drums again. She stood up and, taking her book with her, walked back into the apartment where she found Gilbert seated at the drum set as he smashed the drumsticks into the head of the drum.

"You might want to tone it down, Gil." Elizaveta said.

"Why's that?" Gilbert asked, still drumming away.

"Because I can hear you out on the porch." Elizaveta told him.

"Again?" Gilbert stopped, his hands frozen midair.

"_Igen_." Elizaveta responded in Hungarian as she walked over to the coffee table and grabbed her open bottle of water.

"Well, fuck." Gilbert scowled as his arms fell to his side. "I'm used to having a soundproof room to play in so I can be as loud as I want."

"You're loud all the time." Elizaveta told him as she sat down on the couch next to Gilbird, who somehow fell asleep through Gilbert's playing. "Not just when you're drumming."

"Thank, Ellie." Gilbert sighed as he stood up and joined Elizaveta on the couch.

"Not a problem." Elizaveta smiled. "So how was work today? I didn't hear you come in."

"I hate working retail during the holidays." Gilbert groaned.

"What happened this time?" Elizaveta asked.

"Some chick came in asking what the difference was between a contrabassoon and a cello." Gilbert pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Holy fuck, even I know the difference." Elizaveta said. Gilbert stared at her, to which she replied by saying, "What's wrong?"

"I've never heard you swear before." Gilbert answered.

"I guess I've been around you too long." Elizaveta smiled as she patted the sleeping bird next to her.

"And I ran into Maria at work, which was really awkward." Gilbert continued.

"Why was it awkward?" Elizaveta frowned. "Aren't you two dating?"

"Yeah, here's the thing, Ellie." Gilbert said. "Maria and I broke up. Like, a long time ago."

"How long ago?" Elizaveta asked slowly.

"We haven't been together since…June? July, maybe?" Gilbert wasn't sure.

"So why didn't you tell me?" Elizaveta asked.

"Because I didn't want you to get worried. When you started going out with Roderich, you were worried because I wasn't seeing anyone." Gilbert explained. "You're happy with Roderich, and I didn't want you to worry about me again."

"I wasn't worried, Gil." Elizaveta was, for some reason, unable to look him in the eye. "I was just…concerned."

"Concerned?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow.

"You seemed sad." Elizaveta told him. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I was okay, Ellie." Gilbert assured her. "I still am."

"_As okay as I can be,_" remained unsaid, but the words floated around in the back of his mind. He knew things weren't okay. Not as long as Elizaveta was dating Roderich, at least. Gilbert knew that he needed to tell Elizaveta how he felt about her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"You're spacing out again." Elizaveta said, bringing Gilbert back to reality.

"Just thinking." Gilbert said.

"I had something I wanted to ask you." Elizaveta said. "Two things, actually."

"Have at it." Gilbert said.

"I was thinking about getting a keyboard for the living room." Elizaveta told him. "I really miss playing it."

"You could always use Roderich's piano." Gilbert suggested.

"He won't let anyone touch it." Elizaveta shook her head. "Not even the tuner. He tunes it himself."

"I mean, it's fine by me." Gilbert said. "If I can have my drum set, you should be able to have a keyboard."

"I'm still thinking about it." Elizaveta told him. "I just wanted to run the idea past you first."

"Thanks for that." Gilbert nodded. "What was the second question?"

"Are we planning on celebrating Christmas?" Elizaveta asked.

"What do you mean?" Gilbert asked slowly.

"I kind of need to know if I have to get you a present." Elizaveta clarified.

"Oh." Gilbert hadn't planned on that. "We can if you want to."

"Sounds good." Elizaveta nodded happily. "Are Ludwig and Feliciano going to be coming over?"

"I think so." Gilbert nodded as well. "Lovino might be stopping by, too."

"That's okay with me." Elizaveta said. "You didn't want to have a big Christmas dinner, did you?"

"We never really celebrated Christmas that much." Gilbert shrugged. "Ludwig normally made _wrusts_ and Feliciano made pasta and I made dessert. We can do something bigger if you want, though."

"No, I didn't want to, but I thought I'd ask anyway." Elizaveta told him.

"That makes it a bit easier." Gilbert said. "By the way, when are you going out with Roderich again?"

"What brought that on?" Elizaveta frowned.

"You haven't seen him in a while, haven't you?" Gilbert ran his fingers through silver hair. "I was just curious, that's all."

"Well, we're going out tomorrow to see a movie." Elizaveta responded.

"Sounds like fun." Gilbert said.

"I guess it will be." Elizaveta shrugged. "He's picking the movie this time, so who knows?"

"Well, I hope you guys have a good time." Gilbert told her, though his mind was on other things.

**I have an explanation for Prussia's tattoo, even though it might not make a lot of sense since Hungary saw him without a shirt on in chapter...two? Anyway, I'm going to say that she never actually saw his back, which is why she didn't know that he had one. So that's it for this chapter. I've been writing in class, which isn't something you really want to do on the first day, but I did. I'm thinking of introducing Maria into the story, but I'm not sure yet. I'm still planning a few things. Reviews equal love!**

** Next chapter: Gilbert calls Antonio and talks about something important. At least to him, anyway. **


	7. Tattoos

**Disclaimer: I only own Maria. Take that, copyright!**

**Zephyr here! So I had one hell of a time typing this out because I hand wrote ALL of this in class. Between taking notes and writing this, I'm sure my hand is permanently damages. Oh well. I had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope it's a good read. Let the deadly tale continue!**

Gilbert wasn't surprised when he stumbled into the kitchen in the morning and found Elizaveta's note on the fridge. She always left him a note telling him when she would get off work and he tried to do the same for her. As he was deciding how he was going to spend his day off, he heard his phone ring in the living room. Once he had obtained his phone, he learned that his caller was none other than Antonio.

"_Ja_?" Antonio was used to Gilbert's frequent use of the German language.

"_I just wanted to see how you were doing, _mí amigo." Antonio responded on the other line. "_Francis and I haven't heard from you in a while_."

"I work retail and it's the holidays. What do you think I've been doing?" Gilbert asked as he sat down on the couch. "I've been so busy I haven't had time to update my blog."

"_You have a good point." _Antonio said.

"I've actually got a question for you, Antonio." Gilbert said. "What's a good gift for a girl?"

"_You and Elizaveta are doing Christmas, huh_?" Gilbert could hear the amusement in his friend's voice. "_Why don't you just tell her how you feel already?"_

"How the fuck does everyone know about this?" Gilbert exclaimed in surprise.

"_Dude, we called it from day one." _Antonio told him. "_But back to the matter at hand. What are you thinking about?"_

"Well, she's always reading, but I don't know what kind of book I'd get her." Gilbert answered. "I don't know what genre she likes the best."

"_Why don't you ask Francis?"_ Antonio suggested. "_He has plenty of experience in this field."_

"Francis will tell me to get her lingerie or something related to sex." Gilbert blushed just thinking about it. "I don't think that would go over so well."

"_How about jewelry?" _Antonio suggested.

"I never notice if she's wearing earrings or not, so I don't know if her ears are pierced or not." Gilbert thought. "How about a bracelet? Will that work?"

"_That could work."_ Antonio responded. "_Now that I think about it, Elizaveta's not really girly, is she?"_

"It's kinda weird. When I'm with her, I feel like I'm hanging out with you and Francis. Aside from the copious amounts of sex jokes." Gilbert said. "She has her girly moments, but they're few and far between. I think she's had maybe three of them since we've started living together."

"_She likes plants, right?"_ Antonio suggested. "_How about getting her a winter plant? I know Yao has a lot of bamboo that he's trying to get rid of because Ivan says that it's taking over the apartment."_

"You know, that could actually work." Gilbert said. "She's always saying that she wants some for the kitchen."

"_Sounds like you've found your gift, Gilbert_." Antonio said.

"Yeah." Gilbert nodded. "Thanks, Antonio."

"_No problem." _Antonio said. "_Just make sure you tell her soon, okay?"_

"I guess I should, huh?" Gilbert ran his fingers through his hair. "But she's still going out with Roderich! How am I meant to compete with that?"

"_Still, she'll at least know how you feel._" Antonio said. "_Things will be less awkward between you."_

"_Ja_." Gilbert said slowly.

"_Well, I've got to get going." _Antonio said. "_Lovino and I are going to the grocery store."_

"Good luck with that." Gilbert said, remembering how Lovino could be while shopping. "I'll talk to you later, Antonio."

* * *

Gilbert left the bathroom in a cloud of steam. The bathroom wasn't ventilated very well, so even Gilbert's usual ten-minute showers filled the room with steam and fogged up the mirror. Walking into the kitchen, Gilbert found Elizaveta sitting at the table eating a bagel. He hadn't expected her to return home from work so early.

"Got off early, I see." Gilbert said.

Apparently Elizaveta hadn't heard him walk in. She looked up in surprise and nodded before her eyes traveled down to his bare chest. She frowned, as if she was noticing something different.

"_Träumst du mit mir heut nacht_?" Elizaveta said slowly, clearly speaking in a language that she was not used to speaking.

"Since when did you suddenly learn German?" Gilbert looked at her in confusion.

"You got a tattoo." Elizaveta said slowly.

"Hmm?" Gilbert asked.

"I thought you just had the one on your back." Elizaveta asked.

"Oh. Yeah, I got a new one the other day." Gilbert nodded. "Two of them, actually."

"Well, what does this one say?" Elizaveta asked.

"It's a line from an Oomph song." Gilbert said. "I translates to 'do you dream with me tonight?' in English."

"And where's the other one?" Elizaveta asked.

"On my left shoulder blade." Gilbert turned around so Elizaveta could see.

"Holy fuck, Gil!" Elizaveta raised an eyebrow. "You got a giant eagle tattoed on your back?"

"It's part of the Prussian flag." Gilbert responded. "I was going to get the lyrics on my shoulder done at the same time, but it hurt far too much to do it then."

"_Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod?" _Elizaveta questioned.

"Yet another Oomph song." Gilbert nodded. "This one translates to 'sing me the song of death' in English."

"Yeah, because that's not morbid at all." Elizaveta smirked. "But they look good, though."

"Thanks." Gilbert nodded. "It wasn't as bad as getting the eagle done, though."

"Gee, imagine that." Elizaveta laughed.

* * *

Gilbert was playing video games on the Xbox when he heard his phone go off. He checked the caller ID and was surprised to see that the caller was Maria. Why in the world was she calling him? She barely talked to him at work, so this was a little weird for her.

"Yeah, Maria?" Gilbert asked as he answered the call.

"_How's it going, Gil_?" He had never liked it when she used that nickname. Only Elizaveta was allowed to call him that. Not even Francis and Antonio used it. Ludwig called him by his nickname, even though he knew that he hated it.

"Okay, I guess." Gilbert was still confused. "What's going on?"

"_I'm in the area and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at the apartment for a little bit."_ Maria said from the other line.

"That's fine, I guess." Gilbert said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll just tidy the place up a bit."

_Sounds good. I'll be there soon." _Maria said before she hung up.

Gilbert stared at his phone for a minute before staring at the wall. Maria was planning something. He could always tell when she was plotting to do something and that normally involved him. He just wanted to know what she was going to do.

He walked into his room and pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants, figuring that he might as well get dressed at some point, before he walked into the living room and started cleaning up the coffee mugs and beer cans. It wasn't long before the doorbell rang and Maria walked into the apartment.

"It's been a while, Gilbert." Maria said.

"Yeah, it has." Gilbert said. "So what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, hazel eyes narrowing in confusion.

"We haven't spoken in months and you suddenly call me out of the blue?" Gilbert asked.

"You're planning something, Maria."

"I was just thinking about you and how we haven't hung out in a while." Maria said. "And I had a question for you."

"And this question would be…?" Gilbert asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to try to give it another shot." Maria said.

"Give what another shot?" Gilbert frowned.

"Us." Maria clarified as she sat down on the couch next to Gilbert.

"You want to start going out again?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow.

"Basically, yeah." Maria nodded.

"Why?" Gilbert asked bluntly.

"I wanted to see if it could work." Maria explained.

"It clearly didn't the first time." Gilbert ran his fingers through his hair.

"I know, but I was getting over a bad breakup and I wasn't really ready for a new relationship." Maria went on.

"But you were the one who ended the last one." Gilbert pointed out. "And quite brutally too, might I add."

Maria ignored him and went on. "I guess you don't feel the same way."

"I'm kinda interested in someone else, Maria." Gilbert told her.

"So why don't you go for it?" Maria asked as she brushed her dark hair from her eyes.

"She's already seeing someone." Gilbert explained.

"This wouldn't happen to be Elizaveta, would it?" Maria eyed him suspiciously.

"_Nien!" _Gilbert was so surprised that he started speaking in German. "_Es ist nicht ihre_!"

"What have I said about German?" Maria asked.

"It's not Elizaveta." Gilbert clarified. "She's just my roommate."

"Okay." Maria didn't seem convinced.

"It's not her." Gilbert felt compelled to say.

"And I believe you." Maria leaned back into the couch. "I just don't know why you haven't told her yet. I'm assuming you haven't, judging by that reaction just now."

"I already told you." Gilbert said. "She's already in a relationship."

"You should at least tell her how you feel." Maria said, the hazel eyes meeting the crimson. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"_Ja, sie est."_ Gilbert nodded.

"Gilbert, you've got to stop speaking German." Maria sighed.

"Yeah, she's a friend." Gilbert scowled in Maria's direction.

"Then you really need to tell her." Maria said. "Things will get awkward fast if you don't tell her the truth."

"I know." Gilbert nodded.

"Just trust me." Maria said. "You'll feel better when you do tell her."

"That's what everyone's been telling me." Gilbert said.

"And they're right, you know." Maria said as she gave him a quick kiss.

"What the fuck?" Gilbert demanded, eyes wide in confusion.

"What, I can't kiss you?" Maria asked.

"No!" Gilbert thought this was pretty obvious. "I don't know if you've noticed this, Maria, but we're not dating."

"Really?" Maria rolled her eyes. "I had no idea. Thanks for the clarification."

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere, dear." Gilbert said.

"You've changed." Maria said. "That normally wouldn't bother you."

"Maria, this wouldn't work out." Gilbert told her. "There was a reason why I called it off."

"A reason that you never gave me." Maria said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"It doesn't really matter." Gilbert shook his head.

"Apparently it was if it forced you to break up with me." Maria said, her eyes on Gilbert.

"Does it even matter anymore?" Gilbert asked. "What's done is done."

* * *

Gilbert woke up the next morning to an empty apartment, aside from the yellow bird who was asleep next to the clock. He searched the apartment, but found no sign of Elizaveta. She had told him that she was going on a date with Roderich, but he thought that she'd be back by now. Was it possible that she had spent the night at Roderich's place? But there was no reason for her to stay with Roderich aside from having sex.

Gilbert's eyes widened at the thought and very nearly dropped the mug of coffee that he had been holding. Elizaveta wouldn't do that, would she? Not that he really had any right to intrude into her romantic life, but she always seemed like the type to wait until she was married before she had sex.

"That's just crazy." Gilbert shook his head. "Ellie wouldn't do something like that?"

Gilbird flew into the room and rested on top of his owner's head. He had awoken to find that Gilbert had left the bedroom for his morning coffee and had flown into the kitchen to see him.

"Sometimes I wish you could talk, little guy." Gilbert said to the bird. "I could really talk to someone right now."

He grabbed his hoodie from the back of the kitchen chair and put it on as he walked into the living room, throwing himself down on the couch. Gilbird flitted off of his owner's head and landed on the PlayStation controller.

"I guess I'll just have to wait until Ellie gets home to ask her about it." Gilbert said. "Or would that be too weird, Gilbird?"

Gilbird cocked his head to the side in confusion. How was he meant to know what Gilbert was talking about?

"Maybe I should call Francis." Gilbert mused. "He would have experience with this matter."

At that moment, the door opened and Elizaveta walked into the room. Gilbert knew right away that something was up because she was wearing Roderich's clothes and not the dress she had left the apartment in.

"Oh hey, Gil." Elizaveta was clearly surprised to see that he was awake. "I thought that you'd still be asleep."

"Nah." Gilbert shook his head. "One question, though. Why are you wearing Roderich's clothes?"

"I stayed over at this place." Elizaveta responded casually.

"Okay…" Gilbert was too afraid to ask the question that he really wanted the answer to.

"Oh! No, it wasn't anything like that." Elizaveta realized what Gilbert had been thinking. "He just needed help moving some furniture around. We got finished pretty late, so he said that I could just spend the night."

"But he lives upstairs." Gilbert pointed out. "You could have come home at any time."

"I didn't want to wake you up." Elizaveta explained.

"You should know by now that I can sleep through a stampede of elephants." Gilbert laughed. "Seriously. Ludwig told me that I once slept through a tornado going past the house when we were kids."

"That's pretty bad, Gil." Elizaveta said. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't sleep with him."

"Oh?" Gilbert felt relieved to hear this.

"In any sense of the phrase, no." Elizaveta shook her head. "He was too embarrassed, so I slept in the guest room."

"Oh, okay." Gilbert nodded.

"So what did you do last night?" Elizaveta asked as she sat down on the couch next to Gilbert.

"Well, Maria stopped by." Gilbert said, trying to be as nonchalant as he could possibly be.

"She did?" Elizaveta frowned. "I thought you weren't talking to her?"

"I thought so, too." Gilbert shrugged.

"So what did she want?" Elizaveta asked.

"She wanted to start going out again." Gilbert said.

"And what did you say?" Elizaveta asked.

"I told her that I'm interested in someone else." Gilbert said.

"And who is this girl?" Elizaveta smiled mischievously, which made Gilbert rather uneasy.

"You don't know her." Gilbert lied. "She works with Ivan at the movie rental shop."

"Oh, I see." Elizaveta couldn't look Gilbert in the eye.

"What's wrong?" Gilbert frowned.

"Nothing." Elizaveta shook her head and changed the subject by saying, "Can you believe that Christmas is tomorrow?"

"Honestly, I can't wait until it's over." Gilbert said. "I don't know how it's been at the book shop, but it's been insane at the music shop."

"Oh, it's been crazy." Elizaveta said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Feliks is busier than I am."

"Feliks?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Seriously?"  
"He has to deal with the new releases." Elizaveta explained.

"This makes me wonder why we work in retail." Gilbert sighed. "Oh by the way, Ellie, have you decided if you're going to get the keyboard or not?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to do it." Elizaveta nodded.

"Awesome." Gilbert nodded. "If you want, I can get you a discount on the ones in the music shop."

"That would be awesome." Gilbert smiled at Elizaveta's use of his catchphrase. "I'd have to go to the shop and pick it out, though."

"Is that a problem?" Gilbert frowned.

"No, but I didn't know if you didn't want me meeting Maria for some reason." Elizaveta replied.

"It doesn't matter to me." Gilbert shrugged. "Maria and I have moved on and honestly, I could care less if I never see her again."

"That's kinda harsh, Gil." Elizaveta was surprised by his words.

"She wasn't a good girlfriend." Gilbert explained. "She was really controlling and kind of a bitch."

"Oh." Elizaveta wasn't sure what to say after that.

"Just be glad that you're happy with Roderich." Gilbert told her.

"Yeah." Elizaveta said as she rested her head on Gilbert's shoulder.

"Are you feeling okay, Ellie?" Gilbert looked down at her.

"_Igen_." She responded in Hungarian. "Why do you ask?"

"You've never done this before." Gilbert told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Am I not allowed to?" Elizaveta looked up at him, green eyes meeting the red.

"No, it's okay." Gilbert could feel his face growing hot. "I don't mind."

"You know, you can tell me to stop doing something, right?" Elizaveta asked. "I'm chill with pretty much anything."

"I know." Gilbert nodded.

"I should probably take a shower." Elizaveta leaned back and stood up. "Did you want to do anything specific today?"

"Just to hang out with you." Gilbert said with a smile.

"That works." Elizaveta returned the smile. "Give me about twenty minutes and we can play _Halo_."

"Sounds good." Gilbert said as Elizaveta walked over to the bathroom. "Feel free to start singing in Hungarian if you want."  
"Funny, Gil." Elizaveta called through the bathroom door.

Gilbert laughed and walked into the kitchen for a can of soda. Reaching into the fridge, he grabbed a Coke and turned around the find Gilbird sitting next to the salt and peppershakers. Gilbert hadn't even noticed his pet leave the living room.

"Thanks for not sitting on them, Gilbird." Gilbert said as he picked up the bird with his left hand.

The bird chirped in reply and flew over to Gilbert's bedroom, with Gilbert following behind him. He unzipped and took off his hoodie and pulled on a pair of cargo pants and a band shirt before he turned on his computer.

"I guess its time to update my blog." Gilbert said with a smirk.

Gilbird squawked as he flew down to sit on the top of the computer monitor, eyes fixed on Gilbert.

"I guess it's a good thing that Ellie doesn't read this. That would be awkward." Gilbert said. "I don't actually say that it's her, but I think it would be pretty obvious."

His fingers glided across the keyboard as he typed, occasionally moving a hand to the mouse. After a few minutes, he stopped typing, crimson eyes staring at the screen.

"Do you think I should tell her?" Gilbert asked the yellow bird. "Ellie doesn't need to know that I like her, right?"

Gilbird stared at his owner, quite obviously confused by what he was saying.

"I don't think she's figured it out yet." Gilbert mused. "I don't think that I've been acting suspiciously…"

Gilbird chirped and flew down to stand next to the keyboard and pecked gently at Gilbert's hand.

"Am I overthinking things?" Gilbert questioned. "Should I just go with what feels right?"

**God, Maria didn't turn out the way I wanted her to. I had envisioned her being a complete bitch, but I don't think that came across well. If anyone wants to know, the Oomph songs are "Traumst Du" and "Die Schlinge", two of my personal favourites. That's about it on my end. I'll try to get a new chapter out next week, but classes have obviously started up again, so I have to pay attention to my studies. I think the next chapter will be worth the wait, if all goes as planned. Reviews equal love!**

**Next chapter: Romano, Italy and Germany stop by for Christmas.**


	8. Eyes

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything I write about here. That's just common sense.**

**Zephyr here. I know I'm getting this up REALLY late. I actually had this finished on Wednesday, but life got in the way. Meaning that my copy of World Series came in and I was watching it. I kinda love this chapter and hope that everyone else does, too. For the record, Prussia is singing "I Don't Care" by Fall Out Boy later in the story. That being said, let the deadly tale continue.**

Elizaveta woke up to the sound of music, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary considering that she and Gilbert had the stereo on at all times. What was unusual was the fact that she didn't recognize the song. It was even more unusual that it sounded like Gilbert singing. Getting out of bed, Elizaveta left the room and made her way into the living room. Gilbert was standing not far from the TV and was dancing to the music, swaying back and forth to the melody. The crimson eyes were closed as he focused on the music and his lips formed the words of the song.

"_I don't care what you think as long as it's about me. The best of us can find happiness in misery."_

"That suits you, Gil." Elizaveta laughed.

Gilbert froze and his eyes snapped open. After a second or two, he seemed to realize exactly what he had been doing and backed over to the stereo to turn the music down.

"I see you're awake." He said unblushingly.

"Just woke up." Elizaveta nodded. "So was there any particular reason as to why you were dancing in the middle of the living room?"

"Because there wasn't enough space in my room?" Gilbert responded with a question. "And I didn't want to wake you up."

"That's sweet, but I don't think I would have minded." Elizaveta said as she sat down on the couch. "By the way, _Boldog Karácsonyt._"

"What does that mean?" Gilbert frowned.

"Merry Christmas." Elizaveta clarified.

"Oh." Gilbert joined her on the couch. "Well, _Frohe Weihnachten_ to you, too."

"Do you know when Ludwig and Feliciano are coming over?" Elizaveta asked.

"A little after noon, I think." Gilbert said. "Ludwig and I have a tradition of spending Christmas night at home, so they'll just be here for lunch."

"That's cool." Elizaveta said with a nod. "I guess that means that you won't be out with Antonio and Francis, huh?"

"Not unless you want me to." Gilbert said.

"_Nem, ez rendban van_." Elizaveta responded in Hungarian.

"Say what?" Gilbert frowned.

"My bad." Elizaveta said, cheeks turning slightly pink. "You can stay home if you want."

"That's good. I like spending time with you." Gilbert told her. "And I don't care what you say. You sound cute when you speak Hungarian."

"And I think that you sound hot when you're speaking German, but you never believe me." Elizaveta said as she stood up. "I should probably go get dressed sometime today."

"That sounds like a good idea." Gilbert nodded. "You weren't planning on wearing anything fancy today, were you? I mean, I know it's Christmas, but I don't really feel like doing anything out of the ordinary."

"I should, but I'm not." Elizaveta shook her head. "I know your brother won't like that I'm not being very girly, though."

"He likes that." Gilbert told her. "He said that our personalities match pretty well."

"Really?" Elizaveta arched an eyebrow. "I always got the feeling that Ludwig didn't like me very much."

"Does it really matter?" Gilbert asked, red eyes on Elizaveta. "It's not like we're going out or anything like that."

"Why bring that up?" Elizaveta frowned. "Do you _want_ us to be going out?"

"_Nein!_" Gilbert responded. "I mean, I didn't mean that-"

"I'm kidding, Gilbert." Elizaveta laughed.

"So mean." Gilbert stuck out his tongue at her.

"You know you love me." Elizaveta grinned.

"_Ja_." Gilbert said slowly, thinking about something else entirely.

"So I'll get changed then we can exchange gifts." Elizaveta said. "Does that work?"

"Sounds fine to me." Gilbert nodded.

"I'll be right back." Elizaveta said as she walked back to her room.

Gilbert walked over to the stereo and, after turning the volume back up, walked back to his room, Gilbird following behind him. After getting dressed, he pulled out Elizaveta's present and headed back out to the living room to find Elizaveta sitting on the couch.

"Eager, are we?" Gilbert laughed.

"I think you'll like what I got for you." Elizaveta nodded.

"I'm sure I will." Gilbert said as he sat down on the couch next to her.

"Well, merry Christmas." Elizaveta said as she handed her gift to Gilbert, who handed her his gift.

"Same to you." Gilbert said. "You open yours first."

"If you say so." Elizaveta pulled back the wrapping paper to find that she was holding a large white envelope. "Interesting, Gil."

"Look inside the envelope." Gilbert explained as she opened the envelope.

"Sheet music?" Elizaveta asked.

"For when you get your keyboard." Gilbert clarified. "There's some classical music, but there's a lot of pop stuff, too."

"I can't wait to try this out." Elizaveta grinned. "Oh! You need to open yours, too."

"Sure." Gilbert nodded as he pulled back the wrapping paper. "_Mein Gott_, Ellie, where did you find these?"

"Online." Elizaveta told him. "You don't have these, do you?"

"I do, but who cares?" Gilbert had flipped the record over and was examining the back. "I've been trying to find Oomph and Rammstein on vinyl for ages."

"We can listen to them later." Elizaveta said. "After everyone leaves, though. I don't think Lovino likes German music, does he?"

"He hates it. It's really annoying, too." Gilbert said, eyes falling on Hungary, who was staring at him. "Something wrong, Ellie?

"I just realized how red your eyes are." Elizaveta said slowly, never taking her eyes off of Gilbert.

"Yes?" Gilbert's response was a question. "Is that a problem?"

"They're really pretty." Elizaveta said.

"Thanks?" Gilbert questioned. "You have really pretty eyes, too."

They stared at each other for a few minutes before Elizaveta jumped back and looked in the other direction, seemingly aware that she had been staring at Gilbert for too long. Gilbert turned away as well, but only so she wouldn't see that he was blushing. The awkward moment ended when Gilbert's phone went off, signaling that he had received a new text message.

"_Es tut mir leid."_ Gilbert said as he reached for his phone.

"It's okay." While she didn't understand German, Elizaveta could guess what he was saying.

"Ludwig says that they're on the way over." Gilbert slipped his phone into his picked. "He's bringing _wurst_, too."

"I can finally try your brother's cooking." Elizaveta smiled.

"Yeah, this is the first, huh?" Gilbert mused.

A knock sounded at the door before it swung open and Lovino walked into the room, followed by Ludwig and Feliciano. Ludwig was holding a pan of _wurst_ and Feliciano was carrying some pasta, but Lovino appeared to be empty-handed.

"_Buon natale_!" Feliciano exclaimed.

"Same to you, Feli." Gilbert smiled at his friend's eagerness.

"Let me guess." Ludwig turned to Elizaveta. "He woke up at noon, right?"

"Actually, I woke up at noon and he was already awake." Elizaveta told him. "It was very confusing."

"You feeling okay, Gilbert?" Lovino asked.

"I've been known to get up early on occasion, Lovino." Gilbert scowled.

"Not while you were living with me." Ludwig said. "We can eat _wurst_ now if you want. Feliciano's been saying how hungry he is."

"Awesome." Gilbert grinned. "It's been so long since I've had some of your _wursts, bruder_."

"I want to try them, too." Elizaveta said as everyone migrated into the kitchen. "Gil's been saying that you're a good cook, Ludwig."

Ludwig looked surprised at the way Elizaveta used his brother's nickname, but it was Feliciano who spoke, "It's really good when he tries."

"German food is very different from Italian food, Feli." Gilbert said.

"But Italian food is still the best." Lovino said as he distributed the _wurst_ onto plates.

"I don't know." Elizaveta mused. "I like what Gilbert makes."

"He's been cooking?" Ludwig looked wide-eyed at his older brother.

"It's been known to happen." Gilbert glared at Ludwig as he grabbed some cans of soda from the fridge.

"What did he make?" Feliciano asked as he handed the dish of pasta to Lovino.

"Normally just desserts, but he's made _liverwurst_ and _schwarzsauer_ before." Elizaveta said.

"You do know that the last one is a type of blood soup, right?" Gilbert glanced at her.

"Yeah, which really surprised me." Elizaveta said. "I really liked it."

"I'm surprised, Gilbert." Ludwig said. "If only you would cook when you were living with me."

"You never let me in the kitchen." Gilbert scowled at his brother as he took his plate and sat down at the table after obtaining some silverware. "Not after the _spirgel_ incident."

"What happened?" Elizaveta distributed the silverware to everyone else.

"He stuck _spirgel_ to the ceiling." Feliciano laughed. "And they stayed there for a week!"

"Even after hours of scraping." Ludwig sighed. "I still don't know how you managed to get something that is basically bacon stuck to the ceiling."

"I've gotten better!" Gilbert protested. "Ellie hasn't died yet, so she clearly hasn't been poisoned by my awful cooking."

"I can't say anything since it was my cooking that gave Gil food poisoning." Elizaveta said.

"Woah, seriously?" Lovino looked surprised.

"On the first day we met, you brought over very salty cupcakes." Gilbert laughed nervously. "That should have been a sign." He looked at her and said, "Though in your defense, it was a new recipe that gave me food poisoning."

"But I've cooked with chicken before." Elizaveta said.

"Do you remember the time that I was making the _kirschenmichel_ and couldn't wait for it to be finished before I started eating the cherries?" Gilbert asked her.

"I still don't know how you could eat sour cherries like that." Elizaveta stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"He did that even as a kid." Ludwig said. "Gilbert's always been too impatient to wait for the dessert to be finished. And it's only gotten worse as he's gotten older."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Ludwig." Gilbert said as everyone else took their seats, Feliciano and Lovino at the island and Ludwig and Elizaveta at the table.

"I know, I know." Ludwig said. "You've grown up."

"I'm the older brother." Gilbert said. "I should be saying these things about you, you know."

"But you never really acted like an older brother." Feliciano said. "At least not in the time that I've known you."

"He's got a point, you know." Ludwig said.

"_Ja_, I got it." Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"I need to talk to you for a second." Ludwig said suddenly, his eyes falling on his brother.

"I just started eating!" Gilbert protested.

"It won't take long." Ludwig grabbed Gilbert's arm and pulled him out of the kitchen, through the living room and into his bedroom.

"What's going on, _bruder_?" Gilbert asked, no doubt confused by Ludwig's actions.

"Why is it that Elizaveta can call you by your nickname, but no one else is allowed to?" Ludwig wanted to know.

"Because I don't mind it when she does?" Gilbert was clearly confused by this conversation.

"But why is that?" Ludwig asked.

"I've never really thought about it." Gilbert mused. "I guess it sounds nice when she says it. I don't mind it as much then."

"Interesting." Ludwig said to himself.

"Well, it that's all…" Gilbert made to leave the room, but Ludwig grabbed is shoulder and held him back.

"What's going on between you and Elizaveta?" Ludwig asked.

"We're just friends." Gilbert said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"You haven't told her yet, have you?" Ludwig assumed.

"I've been meaning to, but every time I try to say something, I can't do it." Gilbert said. "Besides, I've been having second thoughts about it."

"You still like her, don't you?" Ludwig asked.

"_Ja_." Gilbert responded.

"So what's the problem?" Ludwig asked.

"Ellie and I are best friends." Gilbert told him. "I don't want to screw that up."

"It's a chance you have to take, Gilbert." Ludwig said. "And I don't think Elizaveta's the type of girl who would let something like this ruin a friendship."

"I guess that's true." Gilbert nodded.

"You do know that you can talk to me about this, right?" Ludwig told his brother.

"_Ja_, but it's really embarrassing to talk about this sort of thing with your little brother." Gilbert ran his fingers through his hair.

"Trust me. I've had much more awkward conversations with Lovino and Feliciano." Gilbert assured him. "Besides, it's nice to see you taking interest in a girl. I was beginning to wonder if you even went that way."

"Thanks." Gilbert said sarcastically. "Are we done?"

"Yeah, I think we are." Ludwig said as he followed Gilbert out of the room.

"Just don't say anything to her, okay?" Gilbert asked, glancing back at his brother.

"You know I won't." Ludwig told him.

"So what was that about?" Elizaveta asked when they reached the kitchen.

"Nothing important." Gilbert said, though he could tell Ludwig was still watching him.

"Gilbert?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah?" Gilbert turned to face his brother.

"_Das wird sich alles finden/ Everything will turn out all right."_ Ludwig told him in German so that Elizaveta couldn't understand them.

"_Ja, ich verstehe." _Gilbert responded.

"Stop speaking in German!" Lovino glared at the brothers. "Not all of us know what you're saying!"

"Which is precisely why I was speaking in German." Ludwig said.

"That was kinda harsh, Ludwig." Feliciano said.

"What's up, Ellie?" Gilbert asked his roommate, who was looking back and forth between Gilbert and Ludwig.

"I'm okay." Elizaveta shook her head.

"Lovino, are you and Antonio doing anything tonight?" Ludwig asked as he tried to change the subject.

"Probably not." Lovino shook his head. "We'll probably sit at home eating tomatoes like we do every Christmas."

"More like every day." Elizaveta said. "How many tomato plants does he have on the porch now?"

"Ten, I think." Lovino responded. "I don't know how we can fit them all, actually."

"Between Elizaveta and Antonio, we have a whole garden on one floor." Feliciano noted.

"Francis said that Arthur's been growing herbs on their porch." Gilbert said through a mouthful of _wurst_.

"No wonder why it smells so nice whenever we go over." Elizaveta popped the tab on her can of soda.

"That and Francis is always cooking something." Ludwig said, cutting the _wurst_ with a knife.

"There's no way that he'd let Arthur cook." Lovino said. "No one could survive that."

"I had his cooking once." Gilbert added.

"Yeah, and you spent all that night throwing up in the bathroom." Elizaveta laughed. "I think that's the sickest I've ever seen you."

"Aside from the time where you sent me to the hospital with food poisoning, right?" Gilbert grinned, his eyes on Elizaveta.

"That was only one time." Elizaveta glared at him, but Gilbert could tell that she was teasing.

"You know, this doesn't really feel like Christmas." Ludwig said suddenly.

"How should it feel?" Feliciano asked.

"I feel like we should be at my place instead of Gilbert and Elizaveta's." Ludwig said. "It's throwing me off."

"I can always move back in if you want." Gilbert arched an eyebrow.

"No, that's okay." Ludwig answered quickly.

* * *

Gilbert left his room, slipping his phone in his pocket, and walked into the living room and found an interesting sight before him. The TV was on, showing one of Elizaveta's favourite crime shows, and she was sprawled out on the couch asleep. He had a hard time forcing himself not to stare at her, but she looked even cuter than normal when she was asleep. There was something about the way she looked sleeping innocently on the couch that Gilbert couldn't look away. After a few minutes, he realized that he should probably wake her up. They had agreed to spend the night watching movies and he didn't want to pass up the opportunity.

"Wake up, Ellie." Gilbert said softly as he gently tapped her on the shoulder.

It took a few seconds for Elizaveta to become slightly coherent. She had always told him that it took her a while to wake and now he had to believe her. He hated to admit it, but her slightly incoherent state was just as adorable as when she was asleep.

"You were in my dream." Elizaveta said groggily.

"I was?" Gilbert frowned.

"_Igen/yes_." Elizaveta nodded, her cheeks turning pink.

"What was I doing?" Gilbert asked.

"I don't remember." He knew she was lying. Her eyes told him that much. "I just remember that you were in it."

"Okay." Gilbert said, abandoning the topic. "You know it's almost midnight, right?"

"That doesn't surprise me." Elizaveta yawned. "Did you get the problem with Francis' computer sorted out?"

"I don't know how he did it, but he somehow managed to fry his Mac." Gilbert pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "And those things are damn hard to kill."

"I think we can blame the porn for this one." Elizaveta giggled.

"That wouldn't surprise me." Gilbert laughed.

"So there's something that I need to ask you." Elizaveta said.

"What's that?" Gilbert asked.

"Do you have a problem with me going out with Roderich?" Elizaveta asked.

Gilbert didn't say anything, completely taken aback by Elizaveta's question. He couldn't tell her the truth. He was happy that she was happy with him, but he couldn't stand the fact that she was dating Roderich, of all people. She couldn't know how he felt about it.

"It's not my place to say anything." Gilbert tried to dance around the answer he wanted to say. "I can't intrude on your love life."

"But you're my roommate and it sort of affects you, too." Elizaveta pointed out.

"You aren't moving out to live with him, are you?" Gilbert asked suddenly.

"_Nem_! Of course not." Elizaveta answered a little too quickly. "No, I just wanted to know what your opinion was."

"Well…" Gilbert said slowly as he sat down next to the couch so that Elizaveta was over his shoulder.

"Be honest about it, Gil." Elizaveta said.

"Honestly, I hate that it's Roderich." Gilbert told her. "But I'm also happy that you're happy with him and that's what matters, right?"

"I guess." Elizaveta nodded.

"Are things going okay?" Gilbert sensed that there was something else going on.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Elizaveta answered.

"And there's something that I should probably tell you." Gilbert said.

"What's that?" Elizaveta asked.

Gilbert hesitated for a second before he said, "Never mind. It's nothing."

**I think my favourite part of this chapter is when Prussia and Germany are speaking in German in front of everyone. So I didn't translate some of the more obvious German, but if anyone needs a translation, just let me know. I'm planning on writing two more chapters and that's that for this story, so look for them soon. Reviews equal love!**

**Next chapter: Prussia walks in on something he didn't expect to see.**


	9. Dancing

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. The paper doesn't pay me anywhere near enough for that.**

**Zephyr here! Things have been very, very crazy lately. That being said, I'm not sure when I'll be able to write the next chapter. I have part of it hand-written, but I've been insanely busy and am currently getting over a cold, so I feel like doing nothing besides sleeping. Besides that, I think this chapter is definitely worth the wait. I had so much fun writing this, especially the first part. That being said, let the deadly tale continue!**

Gilbert could hear the music as he got out of his car. There was no doubt that it was coming from his apartment, though he was confused by the choice of music, which lead Gilbert to believe that Alfred was visiting. However, when he opened the door and stepped into the living room, he only found his roommate. She had her laptop on the couch and was playing the music through the portable speakers. Elizaveta was dancing back and forth across the space of the living room. Every now and then, she would slam her right foot into the carpet with a drumbeat, which was normally followed by spinning around in a circle.

"That looks hot." Gilbert said with a smile.

Elizaveta stopped and faced Gilbert, who was still watching her, before she walked over to the laptop and paused the music.

"Yeah, it's a pretty good workout if you go long enough." Elizaveta said.

"That's not what I meant, but okay." Gilbert said.

Elizaveta didn't pick up on the second meaning and went on. "How was work today?"

"Pretty boring. I ended up restocking the stuff for the brass and woodwinds sections all day." Gilbert shrugged. "Did you get your keyboard set up yet?"

"_Igen_." Elizaveta gestured towards the keyboard on the other side of the room. "It sounds really good, too. Want to try it out?"

"I'm not very good with the piano." Gilbert shook his head. "I took lessons for a while, but I can't play bass clef at all."

"I always pictured you as a drummer, anyway." Elizaveta said.

"Because drumming is awesome." Gilbert grinned.

"Want me to teach you how to play sometime?" Elizaveta offered.

"If you want." Gilbert said. "Maybe after you get back from work."

"Crap!" Elizaveta's eyes grew wide. "I forgot about that!"

"You told me yesterday that you were working this afternoon!" Gilbert exclaimed. "How could you forget about that?"

"I've been very distracted today. There's been a lot going on in my head." Elizaveta said. "I'm going to go take a shower, okay?"

"Fine by me." Gilbert laughed as Elizaveta darted out of the room.

He walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer, pulling out a microwave pizza. After obtaining a plate, Gilbert placed the pizza in the microwave, after he moved Gilbird from the top.

"What have I told you about that, Gilbird?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow.

The yellow bird squawked in protest, but flew over and landed on Gilbert's shoulder.

"I guess you were bored while I was at work, huh?" Gilbert said. "I should probably brush my teeth before Ellie gets in the shower, though, now that I think about it. I really should know by now not to eat things with onions for breakfast."

Leaving the pizza in the microwave, Gilbert left the kitchen and approached the bathroom door. Without thinking of knocking, he opened the door and was about to walk in when he saw that Elizaveta was standing in front the bathtub wearing only a bra and underwear. She turned around and, upon seeing Gilbert standing in the doorway, squeaked and jumped into the bathtub, pulling the shower curtain shut.

"What the fuck, Gilbert?" Elizaveta demanded, though she couldn't stop her voice from squeaking a little bit.

"_Es tut mir leid!"_ Gilbert was so flustered that he started speaking German. "_Ich wusste nicht dass Sie hier waren. Ich dachte dass du noch in deinem Zimmer."_

"Gil, I can't understand you." Elizaveta had to laugh at him, though she knew how embarrassed he was about the whole ordeal. He always started rambling in German when he was flustered or surprised about something. While he found it rather embarrassing, she thought it was kind of cute.

"Sorry." Gilbert said slowly, trying to ignore the fact that his face was bright red. "I didn't know that you were in here. I thought you were still in your room."

"What do you want, anyway?" Elizaveta asked.

"I needed to brush my teeth." Gilbert explained. "I had onions for breakfast. Would you mind?"

"I don't see why not." Elizaveta said. "You're already in here."

"Sorry about that." Gilbert reached for his toothbrush. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't see anything that I-"

"It's not like you've never seen a girl naked before." Elizaveta said as Gilbert started brushing his teeth. "Probably more than enough of Maria, I'm sure."

"What are you talking about?" Gilbert questioned as he spit out the toothpaste. "I've never seen Maria naked before."

"Really?" Elizaveta couldn't contain the surprise. "I thought you were sleeping with her?"

"No!" Gilbert shouted a little too loudly. "No, I've never had sex with Maria."

"Oh, I see." Elizaveta said.

"I'll be going now." Gilbert said. "Sorry to barge in on you."

"Don't worry about it." Elizaveta said. "It's not like you're Francis. Then I'd be a little worried."

"I'm not Francis, I promise." Gilbert said as he left the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

He sighed and leaned against the door. That wasn't the best thing to do.

"_Heilige Scheiße_, I'm going to hell for that one." Gilbert swore in German, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

He stood up and walked back into his room with Gilbird following behind him, the bird's chirping sounding strangely like laughter.

* * *

Elizaveta pounded up the stairs, trying to make sure that she didn't drop any of the laundry that she had just washed. It was troublesome enough to have to go to and entirely different building to do laundry and she didn't want to do it any more than was absolutely necessary.

She opened the door to the apartment and walked into the living room, setting the basket of laundry down on the couch before she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Sitting down at the island, Elizaveta's eyes fell on the white envelope with the sheet music that Gilbert had given her. She hadn't played any of it since she set up the keyboard. She wanted to try it out, but every time she wanted to play, Gilbert would show up. Elizaveta didn't know why, but there was something that prevented her from playing whenever Gilbert was around. This seemed like a good opportunity, since Gilbert was at work and wouldn't return home for at least a few hours.

Grabbing the envelope, Elizaveta walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, sitting down at the keyboard. She opened the envelope and leafed through the sheet music, trying to decide what she should play first. Gilbert had given her a lot of Hungarian classical music, but he made sure to include lots of rock songs, as well. Music from Three Days Grace, Evanescence, Muse and Breaking Benjamin were mixed between various classical musicians that included Franz Liszt, Zoltán Kocsis, Géza Anda and Sari Biro. Elizaveta decided to warm up by playing "A Little Less Sixteen Candles (A Little More Touch Me)" by Fall Out Boy before starting on "Starlight" by Muse.

"I wonder if he knows that this is my favourite Muse song." Elizaveta thought to herself, fingers running up and down the keyboard.

After a few minutes, Gilbird flew over and perched himself at the lower end of the keyboard, his black eyes following Elizaveta's hands.

"Do you want to listen to the music, Gilbird?" Elizaveta asked the yellow bird.

Gilbird chirped once and flew over to rest on Elizaveta's left hand, clearly wanting to move around the piano keys as well.

"What are you doing, buddy?" Elizaveta stopped playing and stared at the bird on her hand. "Do you do this to Gilbert when he's drumming?"

Gilbird squawked and flew up to sit next to the sheet music, though he continued to stare at Elizaveta.

"I need to practice so I can get better." Elizaveta said. "Not that I'll ever be as good as Roderich, though.

After a moment, Elizaveta's hands found the keys and she was playing again. Gilbird continuously hopped up and down the keyboard, his eyes never leaving the piano keys.

"You're like a cat trying to figure out where the sound comes from, Gilbird." Elizaveta laughed. "Maybe I should bring Heracles' cat over to join you?"

Gilbird clearly did not approve of this. He squawked in protest and proceeded to glare at Elizaveta.

"You know I was just kidding, right?" Elizaveta said as she finished the song. "Geez, playing the piano is harder than I remembered. I must be getting rusty."

Gilbird cocked his head and stared at her in a confused manner.

"Am I not making any sense?" Elizaveta smiled. "It's been a pretty weird day so far."

She picked up the envelope and pulled out the sheet music for "Bittersweet" by Apocalyptica and set it in front of the music stand. She had placed her hands on the keys and was about to start playing when she froze.

"Do you think I should tell Gilbert about Roderich, Gilbird?" Elizaveta asked, green eyes on the bird sitting on top of the keyboard. "Do you think he'll care at all?"

Gilbird chirped twice, but Elizaveta couldn't tell what he was trying to say.

"I'm not sure if it really even matters. But I have to wonder if he's even noticed yet." Elizaveta said. "Then again he doesn't exactly notice this sort of thing, but I don't think I've been very secretive about it, either."

* * *

Gilbert could tell that something was bothering Elizaveta. She had hardly spoken to him since he came home from work and when she did speak, she normally didn't say more than a few words. She assured him that she wasn't upset about the bathroom incident, but he couldn't rule out the possibility.

"Something on your mind, Ellie?" Gilbert asked her.

"Why would you think that?" Elizaveta frowned, pulling her eyes away from the TV where she and Gilbert had been watching a popular crime show.

"You've been acting strangely ever since I got home." Gilbert explained. "This isn't about the whole bathroom thing, is it?"

"_Nem,_ it's not." Elizaveta shook her head.

"Do you need to talk about something?" Gilbert asked, trying not to be too pushy.

"No, that's okay." Elizaveta shook her head again. "I can deal with this by myself."

"Okay, if you're sure." Gilbert said. "You know you can talk to me about just about anything, right?"

"_Igen." _Elizaveta responded in Hungarian. "I just need to sort a few things out in my head."

"Not a problem." Gilbert said.

"Are you sure that _you're _okay?" Elizaveta turned to face her roommate, the TV show all but forgotten.

"What do you mean?" Gilbert frowned.

"You've been acting differently for a while." Elizaveta told him. "Is something wrong?"

Gilbert didn't say anything for a few minutes. He knew that he had to tell her at some point. Now that she'd noticed that he'd been acting differently, he couldn't really hide it anymore.

"_Ja_, there's something." Gilbert said. "And I probably should have told you this a long time ago."

"And what this be?" Elizaveta asked.

"I like you, Ellie." Gilbert admitted, completely amazed at how calm he felt.

"Well, I like you too, Gil." Elizaveta laughed. "I'd hope that you'd like me a little bit."

"Not that way." Gilbert shook his head. "It's quite a bit more than that."

Elizaveta stared at him for a moment before she said, "Gil, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I don't think I can call it love yet because I haven't been around you in that way, but I'd really like to find out if I love you." Gilbert said. "I know that you're dating Roderich, but I thought that you-"

"I'm not going out with Roderich anymore." Elizaveta shook her head. "We broke up a few days ago."

"What?" Gilbert's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"We decided that it was best to call it quits." Elizaveta explained. "We weren't really going anywhere in the relationship and…"

"_Ja_?" Gilbert questioned in German. "And what?"

"…and I was trying to get you out of my head." Elizaveta admitted, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.

"Wait, why would you be-" Gilbert started to question.

Rather than answering him with words, Elizaveta leaned forward and pressed her lips to Gilbert's, cutting him off mid-sentence. Red eyes widened in surprise and it was written all over Gilbert's face when they separated.

"Seriously?" Gilbert wasn't sure if he wanted to believe what just happened.

"I'd say so, yeah." Elizaveta nodded.

"And you didn't say anything about this for how long?" Gilbert wanted to know.

"Only a month or two." Elizaveta responded, leaning back into the couch. "But you've been keeping this from me for a bit longer, huh?"

"Ludwig and everyone else said that I liked you from the day we moved in, but I didn't realize it until around the time I broke up with Maria." Gilbert told her.

"That was half a year ago." Elizaveta stated.

"And?" Gilbert questioned.

"Well, you didn't say anything during all that time." Elizaveta said. "No wonder why you got so depressed whenever I went out with Roderich!"

"That was kinda painful to watch, yeah." Gilbert ran his fingers through his hair.

"Gil, this isn't why you ended it with Maria, was it?" Elizaveta asked.

"It wasn't the only reason, but it was one of the main ones." Gilbert nodded.

"Oh." Elizaveta responded simply. "I'm not sure what I'm meant to say after that."

"You don't have to say anything at all." Gilbert said. "But I think we should sort this out."

"You don't want to move out, do you?" Elizaveta asked.

"Of course not. I like living with you." Gilbert told her. "But I don't know if you want to give this a shot since we live together."

"I like you. You like me." Elizaveta said. "I know we'd be living together in a different way, but I don't think it'll be a problem. Unless," she added, green eyes meeting the red ",you don't want to give it a shot."

"Of course I do." Gilbert told her. "But you're sure you want to do this? I mean, you just broke up with Roderich."

"Yeah, but I don't care." Elizaveta shook her head. "If I didn't want to go for it, I wouldn't have kissed you."

"So we're going for it, then?" Gilbert asked.

"We're going for it." Elizaveta nodded, resting her head on Gilbert's shoulder.

"At least I know why you're doing this now." Gilbert said, moving his arm around her waist. "It really confused the shit out of me the first time."

"I could tell you were a bit flustered by that." Elizaveta said.

"It didn't help that you were dating Roderich and I couldn't tell you that I like you." Gilbert said.

"But now we don't have a problem anymore." Elizaveta looked up at Gilbert.

"No, we don't." Gilbert shook his head. "And I'm definitely not complaining about that."

**Holy crap, I loved writing the bathroom scene. But I think everyone likes the ending, huh? I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long and it's finally done! Yay! On another note, the song that Hungary's dancing to in the beginning is "Secrets" by OneRepublic, if anyone cares. The next chapter will be THE LAST CHAPTER, which makes me kinda sad. I've had a ton of fun writing this and will be sad to see it end. That's it for me. Reviews equal love.**

**Next chapter: can Gilbert stop Francis from hitting on Elizaveta? **


	10. Start

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. I don't think I'd be writing this if I did.**

**Zephyr here! This is the LAST CHAPTER of SJMRM. As sad as I am to finish this, I'm happy with how it turned out and that its as popular as it is. Thanks to everyone who stuck with me to the end. That being said, this is the conclusion of the deadly tale!**

Gilbert woke up when his pet started hopping up and down his back, clearly wanting to wake him up. He didn't want to have to get up on his day off work, but when Gilbird started jumping on him, he knew that there was no way that he'd be falling back asleep.

"What do you want, Gilbird?" Gilbert asked, failing to stifle a yawn.

The yellow bird started chirping loudly as he flitted around the room before landing on Gilbert's laptop.

"You just wanted me awake, didn't you?" Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. I'm awake."

After he got out of bed, Gilbert grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the shower. Once he was finished, he went into the kitchen and found Elizaveta drinking a cup of coffee and reading a copy of the newspaper at the island.

"Hey, you." Gilbert said as he pulled a carton of orange juice from the fridge.

"Same to you." Elizaveta responded with a smile.

"Last night wasn't a dream, was it?" Gilbert asked as he turned to face Elizaveta, juice in hand.

"Nope." Elizaveta leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.

"That's good to know." Gilbert smirked as he grabbed a glass and poured the orange juice. "But if we're going out now, I wonder why that weird feeling hasn't gone away yet."

"That's kinda cute, Gil." Elizaveta said as Gilbird flew into the room and landed on her head.

"I'm not used to it." Gilbert said as he stuck the carton back in the fridge.

"We can always call it off if that would make you feel better." Elizaveta said

"Why would I do that?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow. "I've been waiting to go out with you for months."

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd want to give that up." Elizaveta said as she lifted Gilbird from her head and held him in the palm of her hand. "Do you think Gilbird approves? He's finally starting to accept me as a person."

"We'll have to see." Gilbert said, leaning down so that he was eye-level with the yellow bird. "Gilbird? Ellie and I are going out now. I'll be doing all the things that I used to do with Maria with her from now on. Is that okay with you?"

Gilbird looked from Gilbert to Elizaveta a few times. Gilbert could tell that his pet was mulling over the idea of him dating his roommate, but for once in the entire time that he had owned his pet, Gilbert couldn't tell what the yellow bird was thinking.

A few seconds later, Gilbird fixed his eyes on Gilbert, as if he was trying to read his mind. After staring at him for a while, Gilbird seemed to nod and he chirped once.

"Well, I'm glad you approve." Gilbert rolled his eyes at the bird's antics.

"I still think it's odd that I need the approval of a bird before I can date you." Elizaveta gestured to Gilbird.

"For whatever reason, Gilbird's always been very protective over me." Gilbert said as he sat down next to Elizaveta.

"So I see." Elizaveta nodded. "But he didn't do this when you were dating Maria?"

"Nope." Gilbert shook his head. "I don't know why, but he's always been a little touchy when it comes to you."

"It's a good thing that he's getting over that." Elizaveta said, reaching over to pat Gilbird on the head.

"It was a real problem before this." Gilbert noted. "Seriously. It felt like we were married and it was the problem of getting the pet to get along with the spouse."

"I didn't want to say it at the time, but that's sort of how it felt." Elizaveta added, finishing her coffee. "And now for a random change of subject. What were you planning on doing today?"

"Antonio and Francis are coming over sometime this afternoon." Gilbert told her.

"Just make sure that Francis doesn't act creepier than normal." Elizaveta said. "I know you can't completely stop him, but I'd appreciate it if he'd learn to stop staring at my boobs all the time."

"That's impossible, considering that it's Francis, but I'll try." Gilbert assured her. "When do you get off work?"

"Around four." Elizaveta said. "I hope it'll be an easy day today."

"It seems like there's a lot of drama involved with bookstores." Gilbert said. "And I thought I had it bad working in a music shop."

"There's more drama than one would expect." Elizaveta said with a sigh." And on that note, I suppose I should start getting ready."

"Nope." Gilbert reached over and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're not allowed to leave."

"Then I won't be able to make money to pay rent, which means that I'll have to move out." Elizaveta said. "I don't think you'd want that to happen."

"Not really, no." Gilbert shook his head.

"Tomorrow's Sunday and we both have the day off." Elizaveta told him. "We can spend the day together if you want."

"I'd like that." Gilbert nodded.

"You should probably get ready for the rapist and Antonio." Elizaveta said.

"You know Francis hates being called that." Gilbert said, releasing Elizaveta from his grip.

"But it's true, you know." Elizaveta said, giving Gilbert a quick kiss before she slid off the stool and left the kitchen.

* * *

"So, Gilbert, have you made any progress with Elizaveta?"

Gilbert looked up from his phone and found Francis and Antonio watching him. They had planned on playing video games, but they couldn't decide what game they would play. After Francis and Gilbert argued for half an hour between "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" and "Left 4 Dead 2", Antonio suggested that they simply watched TV, with him being the decider on the show.

"Yeah, I actually have." Gilbert nodded, petting Gilbird on the head as the yellow bird sat on his knee.

"Oh really?" Francis arched an eyebrow at his friend.

"What did you do_, mi amigo?_" Antonio asked.

"I asked her out." Gilbert grinned happily.

"Nice one!" Antonio exclaimed. "I knew you'd do it eventually."

"But she's going out with Roderich, _mon cher_." Francis told him. "She can't go out with you."

"Apparently she broke up with him a few days ago." Gilbert drummed his fingers on the empty beer can sitting next to him. "And I don't know how this happened, but apparently she likes me, too."

"I knew that she would." Antonio said. "I saw how she looked at you."

"Kind adorable, too." Francis said.

"You already have Arthur, Francis." Gilbert said. "No hitting on my girlfriend."

"So it's official, then?" Antonio asked, running his fingers through his hair.

"_Ja_." Gilbert responded in German.

"Good for you." Francis told him. "Now you won't be so emo anymore."

"I wasn't that bad." Gilbert chucked an empty beer can at Francis' head.

"How's Gilbird handling this?" Antonio asked, his eyes on the yellow bird on Gilbert's knee. "He used to hate her when you were still roommates."

"We're not roommates now?" Gilbert frowned.

"You know what I mean." Antonio sighed in exasperation.

"He's okay with it." Gilbert responded. "The only reason why he hated her was because he thought that she was going to replace him. Once I told him that she'd never take his place, he started to warm up to her a little."

"He's just as stubborn as you are." Francis said, picking up the remote and flipping through the channels randomly.

"He really likes her now." Gilbert said. "I saw him trying to turn the pages of her book while she was reading the other day."

"It's just like a married couple with pets." Francis said.

"That's what Ellie and I said." Gilbert nodded.

"Now we just need Antonio to ask out Romano and we'll all have partners." Francis said, blue eyes falling on Antonio.

"You already know that's not going to work out." Antonio said. "Romano's never going to go for it."

"You won't know if you don't ask him, Antonio." Gilbert told him.

"Where's Elizaveta, anyway?" Antonio was clearly trying to change the subject.

"She's at work right now." Gilbert brushed his hair from his eyes. "She should be getting back soon."

"We'll have to interrogate her." Francis grinned deviously.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" Gilbert demanded, though he should have known that his friends would try to do such a thing.

"To make sure that she isn't just using you for sex." Francis explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"She's not you, Francis." Antonio shot a glare in the direction of the blonde. "Elizaveta wouldn't do something like that. And I don't think Gilbert would go out with her if she was like that."

"I have more sense than that." Gilbert said.

"What am I not doing?"

The boys turned around and found Elizaveta standing behind the couch her eyes moving between Francis and Antonio.

"You aren't going out with me for the sex." Gilbert explained.

"Oh yeah, because we had so much sex last night." Elizaveta laughed.

"Was that sarcastic?" Francis asked, eyes on Elizaveta.

"Of course." Gilbert rolled his eyes as Elizaveta sat down next to him on the couch.

"He didn't force you into this, did he?" Francis asked seriously.

"Why would he force me into this?" Elizaveta frowned.

"Gilbert can be somewhat forceful sometimes." Francis said, eyes on Gilbert.

"Don't compare him to you, _mi amigo_." Antonio said.

"Well, he didn't force me into anything." Elizaveta said. "And I've already broken up with Roderich, so don't even ask about that."

"Yeah, Gilbert told us that already." Antonio said.

"I don't think Francis believes me." Gilbert wrapped his arm around Elizaveta's waist. "That I'm going out with you, that is."

"Well, it's true, Francis." Elizaveta told the blonde.

"It's about time you made a move, Gilbert." Francis said.

"Well, I couldn't exactly do anything when she was going out with Roderich." Gilbert pointed out.

"But you didn't know that I broke up with him when you told me." Elizaveta told him.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Gilbert questioned, his eyes on Elizaveta.

"Yours, of course." Elizaveta said.

"At any rate, we're happy for you, _mi amigo_." Antonio said.

"Now we just need to get Antonio to ask out Lovino." Elizaveta said.

"Not you too!" Antonio exclaimed in exasperation.

* * *

Elizaveta heard the drum beats while she was still in the shower. Gilbert always had a tendency to play a little too loudly. Not that she minded. She knew that Antonio and Lovino, who lived next door, wouldn't appreciate it, however. She pounded the wall with her first a few times, hoping that Gilbert would hear her over the loud drumming. However, her efforts were in vain, as he kept drumming away and continued to do so when Elizaveta walked out into the living room a few minutes later. He had turned the volume up full blast, so loud that Gilbert couldn't hear the squawking of the yellow bird flying around the room.

Elizaveta knew that shouting wouldn't do anything. She'd lived with him long enough to know that getting Gilbert's attention required drastic measures. She walked across the room and turned the volume down before she turned around and faced Gilbert. He continued drumming for a few seconds before stopping suddenly, frowning at the lack of noise in the apartment. He looked towards the stereo and became even more confused when he saw Elizaveta standing there,

"Something wrong, Ellie?"

"You're being too loud." Elizaveta said as Gilbird landed on her shoulder.

"Was I?" Gilbert stood up and stretched his arms out in front of him.

"I could hear you in the shower." Elizaveta nodded. "You couldn't hear me pounding on the wall?"

"_Nein._" Gilbert shook his head.

"That figures." Elizaveta sighed. "Is the pizza done yet?"

"You made pizza?" Gilbert frowned.

"Oh, that's right. You were at the store when I put it in the oven." Elizaveta said. "Yeah, I made sausage pizza."

"Well, I clearly didn't hear a timer go off." Gilbert said. "And I don't smell anything burning, so that's a good sign."

"So what were you playing, anyway?" Elizaveta asked.

"_Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums_." Gilbert responded.

"Bit of a long title." Elizaveta said as she walked over to sit down on the couch.

"But it's a good song." Gilbert said, sprawling out on the other couch.

"Kinda dark, though." Elizaveta said as the timer went off in the kitchen.

"Pizza's done." Gilbert grinned as Elizaveta headed towards the kitchen.  
"Ah, crap!" Elizaveta exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Gilbert asked as he left the room.

"The pizza's burnt." Elizaveta said angrily. "I guess I know why."

"Why?" Gilbert asked, standing behind Elizaveta to star at the pizza sitting on the stove.

"I set the oven temperature a hell of a lot hotter than it was meant to be." Elizaveta said.

"It still looks edible." Gilbert said.

"Do you still want to eat it?" Elizaveta asked.

"I do." Gilbert said. "We don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, we can eat it." Elizaveta said as she started to rummage through a drawer for the pizza cutter.

"I'll grab the beer and plates if you want to cut the pizza." Gilbert said.

"That works." Elizaveta was already cutting the pizza. "You washed the hot mats, right?"

"_Ja, ich habe_." Gilbert responded in German. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"Don't worry about it." Elizaveta pulled a hot mat from the drawer. "You couldn't have known that the tomato sauce was going to boil over."

"Sounds like we need some cooking classes." Gilbert carried some plates and a six-pack of beer into the living room.

"You're good with deserts." Elizaveta said from the kitchen.

"Ludwig taught me a few things." Gilbert explained, popping the tab on a can of beer.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Elizaveta carried the pizza from the kitchen and placed it on a hot mat on the coffee table. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to watch on TV?"

"Whatever you want works." Gilbert shook his head as he divided the pizza onto plates before handing one to Elizaveta. "I just want to spend some time with you."

"That's sweet." Elizaveta sat down on the couch next to Gilbert.

"Well, we don't get to see each other that much." Gilbert reached for the remote control and started to flip through the channels.

"Which really sucks, huh?" Elizaveta said before taking a bite of pizza.

"I'm not sure what that's meant to mean."

Elizaveta and gilbert turned around and saw Ludwig and Feliciano standing behind them. Ludwig had his eyes fixed on his older brother while Feliciano kept playing with his phone.

"When the fuck did you get here?" Gilbert questioned.

"Pizza!" Feliciano exclaimed happily and made to dash over to grab a slice, but Ludwig grabbed his shoulder and held him back.

"We just wanted to see how things were going." Ludwig said, holding back a flailing Feliciano.

"Are you sure you're right to include Feli?" Gilbert asked.

"Just me, I guess." Ludwig shrugged as he and Feliciano sat down on the opposite couch. "I see you're getting more risky, Gilbert."

"Care to explain, dear brother?" Gilbert knew that Ludwig would pick up on the sarcasm.

"You've got your arm around Elizaveta." Ludwig said, noticing that Gilbert's arm was wrapped around Elizaveta's waist

"Guess we'll have to tell him, Gil." Elizaveta said.

"Tell us what?" Feliciano asked through a mouthful of pizza.

"Ellie and I are going out." Gilbert said.

Ludwig's eyes widened as he said, "Seriously? I thought you were still seeing Roderich, Elizaveta."

"I broke up with him a few days ago." Elizaveta told him.

"Moving on fast, aren't we?" Feliciano asked.

"Feliciano!" Ludwig smacked him upside the head.

"It doesn't matter, Ludwig." Elizaveta said. "I know it looks bad, but Roderich and I called it quits mutually."

"Is that so?" Ludwig mused.

"Yeah, she kissed me first." Gilbert nodded.

"You were never one to take action, Gilbert." Ludwig said.

"Hey, I thought she was still going out with Roderich." Gilbert said before taking a sip of beer. "I wasn't going to do anything like that."

"But I was just giving you my answer." Elizaveta told him.

"Well, at any rate, I'm glad that things worked out for you." Ludwig said. "Now…"

"Oh, no." Gilbert shook his head. "You are _not _going to lecture me. Not when you didn't do anything when I was with Maria."

"You didn't want to do anything with Maria. You both need to take care of each other, okay?" Ludwig said. "If I find out that you've hurt Elizaveta, Gilbert, I don't know what I'll do, but be prepared to hurt for months. Same goes for you about Gilbert, Elizaveta."

"You know I'm not going to do anything like that, Ludwig." Elizaveta said before taking a bite of pizza.

"I know." Ludwig said. "I just need to say it since Gilbert's my big brother."

"And you shouldn't be saying such things to your big brother." Gilbert said.

"He's been worried about you, Gilbert." Feliciano said.

"Has he now?" Gilbert asked, crimson eyes on Ludwig.

"He said that you were depressed for a while and he didn't know what to do to help." Feliciano explained. "Once he knew that you liked Elizaveta, he wanted to do something to help you out, but nothing he thought of would work."

"Such a caring younger brother." Elizaveta said.

"Hey, Elizaveta's the first girl that you've really wanted to be with." Ludwig said to his brother. "What else was I meant to think?"

"Wait, didn't Maria ever mean anything?" Elizaveta asked.

"I guess she did, at first, but then I realized that I liked you and that she was a complete and total bitch." Gilbert said. "Once I realized that, I kept seeing her as a way to try to get you out of my head."

"That's kinda depressing, Gil." Elizaveta rested her head on his shoulder.

"That should have been indicator that you two would end up together." Ludwig said, leaning back in the couch.

"Why?" Elizaveta frowned in confusion.

"Gilbert doesn't let anyone call him Gil." Feliciano explained. "Not even Ludwig can call him that."

"But you do anyway." Gilbert shot a glare in the direction of his brother.

"Well, I can stop it if you want." Elizaveta said.

"No, it's okay." Gilbert shook his head. "I like the way you say it."

"So by the fact that I'm allowed to use his nickname, we'll work out?" Elizaveta mused.

"Well, maybe not, but it's still a good sign." Ludwig said. "Not that I don't want you two to end up together, of course."

"Well, I have the approval of the bird and the brother." Elizaveta laughed. "I guess I can officially go out with you now, Gil."

"Not that you needed my approval, anyway." Ludwig said. "Speaking of birds, how's Gilbird handling this?"

"He's okay with it." Gilbert responded. "Kinda surprising, actually."

"Where _is_ Gilbird, anyway?" Elizaveta asked Gilbert.

"No idea, now that I think about it." Gilbert said as he stood up from the couch. "He was here when I was drumming earlier."

"We should probably be going." Ludwig stood up as well, pulling Feliciano up with him. "We just wanted to see how things were going over here."

"Aww, but I wanna stay." Feliciano whined.

"Lovino was going to come over today, remember?" Ludwig said as he pulled Feliciano towards the door.

"Yeah, that's right." Feliciano nodded. "He'll be angry if we're not there when he shows up."

"You mean there's a time when he's not angry?" Elizaveta arched an eyebrow.

"You'd better get going, then." Gilbert said. "You know how bad Lovi can be when he's angry."

"We'll see you guys later." Feliciano followed Ludwig out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.

"Now to find Gilbird." Elizaveta said, leaning down to check under the coffee table.

"I'll go check out my room." Gilbert left the living room and made his way to the bedroom.

The yellow bird wasn't on the computer like he normally was, nor was he on top of the iHome. He spent a few minutes looking under the bed and was searching the closet when he heard Elizaveta's voice from her room. Gilbert walked into the hallway and stopped short in front of her door, not looking inside.

"What is it, Ellie?" Gilbert asked.

"You can come in, you know." Elizaveta said.

"You're sure?" Gilbert asked.

"We're roommates, Gil." Elizaveta said. "We're going to see each other's bedrooms at least once."

"I've always thought that girls didn't want boys in their rooms." Gilbert hesitantly turned around and peeked inside the room.

"It's okay, I promise." Elizaveta had to laugh at how shy Gilbert was being.

"You can't yell at me later for this." Gilbert slowly walked into the room. "What's up?"

"I found Gilbird." Elizaveta smiled.

"Really?" Gilbert arched an eyebrow.

"Take a look." Elizaveta gestured towards the bed with a nod.

Gilbert stepped forward and examined the bed. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Elizaveta had neatly folded the orange and purple blankets at the foot of the bed, but what was different was the pillow. Gilbird was nestled on top of the pillow and had fallen asleep, making chirping sounds that resembled snoring.

"I wonder what he's doing in here." Gilbert mused, walking over to the bed.

"Beats me." Elizaveta shrugged.

"Sorry he got in here." Gilbert picked up the yellow bird and held him in the palm of his hand.

"It's okay." Elizaveta assured him. "I think it's kinda cute, actually."

"Time to wake up, Gilbird." Gilbert started poking the bird on the forehead. "What are you doing in here, little guy?"

Gilbird shifted his wings slightly and opened his eyes, staring at Gilbert. He looked around the room and, after finding Elizaveta, chirped twice and flew out of Gilbert's hand, landing on her shoulder.

"Well, hello to you, too." Elizaveta reached up to pet him on the head.

"Now that we've found Gilbird, do you want to continue with our pizza and movie night?" Gilbert asked.

"Sure." Elizaveta nodded as she followed Gilbert back into the living room.

"I'm still surprised that my brother showed up so suddenly." Gilbert said as the yellow bird flew down to sit on his knee.

"He hasn't been over for a while, so I was expecting him to show up soon." Elizaveta said.

"At least he didn't completely freak out about us, though." Gilbert pointed out." I thought he'd have a conniption fit or something."

"He's just watching out for his brother." Elizaveta said, popping the tab on a can of beer.

"I should be the one watching out for him, not the other way around." Gilbert said.

"From what I understand, that's just something that siblings do." Elizaveta said.

"I just hope he doesn't get too protective." Gilbert sighed. "I don't want you to start freaking out over stuff like that."

"You're my boyfriend, Gil." Elizaveta told him. "I should be ready to get used to your brother."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Gilbert said. "And he's going to have to get used to the fact that you're my girlfriend now."

**So that's that! I hope it was a satisfying ending. I have plans for a few more PruHuns oneshots in the making, so look for them in the future. Thanks for reading. Reviews equal love!**


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